


Till’ there was you

by I_need_your_love_before_I_fall



Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Coffee Shops, Complete, Crying, Dancing in the Rain, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, Hospitals, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Loneliness, Minor Character Death, One-Sided Attraction, Other, Picnics, References to Depression, Sleep Deprivation, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:28:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 36,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28710498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_need_your_love_before_I_fall/pseuds/I_need_your_love_before_I_fall
Summary: It's just a normal day for grumpy Brigitte when someone comes quite literally knocking her down, that person however makes a bigger impact on her life than she'd ever be able to imagine.When bubbly Christy trips she falls onto someone and changes their life forever.Could they be possibly more than friends despite having such different lives? Will their friendship blossom into something more or will they stay as just friends? Will Brigitte stop being so annoyed at life all the time?
Relationships: Original Female Character & Original Female Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so you may have seen my other fanfics that lead you here, if so please try to enjoy my first attempt at original character work!

Setting the cup down on the table it made a quiet sound, coffee sloshing as it messed up the small design on the foam. Cars rushed as the sound of rain was drained out by the buzzing and chatting of others enjoying their warm drinks and pastries.

Looking up a pair of eyes stared as a bite of pastry was stolen. “If you don’t hurry I might just eat it all,”was teased lightly as another bite was taken. Right as she was about to eat a bit more the pastry was quickly snatched back, “buy your own if it’s so good, besides I haven’t eaten yet today and you don’t want me to starve do you?” She asked, making the pitch of her voice higher to seem more innocent. Rolling her eyes the pastry thief sat back and stretched, a few cracking sounds coming from her back. An accusing finger was pointed at her, ”don’t you roll your eyes at me Christy I paid for this pastry therefore it’s mine, buy your own drama queen.”

A pouty look came over Christy’s face and she placed her elbow on the table, relaxing her face into her palm. As she talked an exaggerated fake French accent accompanied her words, ”Pastries are the highest form of cuisine and you, Brigitte, who I had thought to be my best friend stole that from me, oh the betrayal and heartbreak” throughout her small monologue her voice had slowly gotten louder making other patrons of the cafe stare blankly in their direction. 

Looking over she started talking again while waving her hands around in different gestures, ”what are you staring at huh? I bet you don’t have to deal with a pastry stealing friend so why are you looking at me?” Weirded out the strangers looked away and continued their conversations. 

Huffing Brigitte walked over to the trash to throw away the empty cup and paper bag, wiping crumbs off her hands afterwards. “Why are you so loud all the time” A cheeky smile was thrown her way as Christy made long playful strides over, “because I can.” 

Stepping out they both huddled under the umbrella walking side by side. Drawing out to o’s in her ‘so’ Christy asked what the plan was because of the rain that seemed to suddenly start, ruining their previous plans. 

As they talked and stepped in puddles along the sidewalk Brigitte snapped her fingers frightening Christy by the random motion. Stopping they stared at each other because of Christy suddenly jumping. ”What? You really spooked me for just randomly doing that” she whined, they stared a bit longer before bursting out in laughter as they kept walking.  
The rain started coming down harder, like bullets of water as they hit the concrete harder with each drop. Noticing the change in the rain they started sprinting unsure of where they were headed only knowing they were going somewhere. 

Small panting breaths came out from under the umbrella as they hunched over trying to gulp down more air. Looking up Christy noticed they were in a large empty park, ”hey wanna sit down for a bit?” Nodding Brigitte led them over to a soaked bench. 

Using her coat she pushed some water off and they sat down laying back and taking in the atmosphere around them. ”The weather forecast said it was going to be sunny today, guess that was a lie huh,” Brigitte mentioned not getting a reply as they both looked at the water hitting the leaves and plants pushing parts of greenery down. ”I quite like the rain, I think rain means that something is about to happen,” looking over at Christy she raised an eyebrow up, ”why do you think that?” Looking up Christy spoke softly, ”Whenever it rains something always changes even if it's as small as a flower getting watered” she got a small noise of agreement in return, a silence taking over once more.


	2. A cool pile of leaves

Rolling over she pushed her phone off the nightstand, hearing it fall to the ground and yet the constant beeping stayed. Slowly sliding out of bed just to lay on the floor Brigitte slowly picked up the phone only to sit up unbelievably fast once she checked the time. Setting it back on the table after almost getting whiplash she pushed herself up becoming a bit dizzy by how she almost flew off the floor. The sounds of drawers and doors opening rapidly and footsteps running around tripping several times were mixed in with the still beeping alarm. Shoving her stuff into her backpack she also hit the alarm hard enough to damage it, not realizing that as it became quiet in the apartment apart from rushed steps and heavy breathing. 

Running out the front door as it slammed closed she took off towards the stairs as the elevators were being renovated. Checking the time as she ran into the garage made her run so hurriedly that at this point if she were to suddenly stop she would fall straight onto the ground face first. 

After typing the directions into the gps with a speed that made her fingers hurt she got the car going. Slipping in the door while looking around to see if anyone had noticed she made eye contact with her boss as he stood there with his arms crossed, a disappointed expression on his face. ”Do you plan on explaining why you’re late,” he asked as he shifted a little.  
Stuttering out excuses while she rubbed the back of her neck she eventually shook her head, keeping it down. ”I expect you to be on time from now on, one more mishap and you’re fired. I don’t have time for late employees,” he spoke while squinting at her before turning around and heading to the front. 

Sighing, she put her bag away in her locker after grabbing an apron. As she wiped down the counters she watched other employees start laying stuff out, while putting away the cleaning supplies she accidentally made eye contact with the employee turning on the machines, embarrassed she quickly turned around and paced over to the register. After what felt like years of customers coming in and ordering different baked goods and sweet drinks the shift had ended and was ready to be passed onto the next person. 

While in the back room puting the apron away and getting her stuff together she was almost set to leave when she yelped after feeling a hand on her left shoulder. As they both fell to the floor the other person who she was sure she hadn’t met before started apologizing, words tumbling out like an avalanche. Every word said was almost incomprehensible as they started speaking at the same time, both of them telling the other to go first. ”I’m so sorry for scaring you-” however, she was cut off by a simple, ”don’t worry about it it’s okay.” The other woman sitting across from her introduced herself, ”this is the worst way for a first introduction to go but I’m Christy, ”she said as she held out her hand waiting for a handshake. Hesitant Brigitte told, what was her name? Was it Christine maybe, or perhaps Crystal, no what about Clementine, at this point she wasn’t sure because of how fast the other woman introduced herself. Gasping when Brigitte said her name she asked the one question Brigitte was expecting, ”Are you French or something? I took French class for,” she started counting out loud, ”I think four and a half years so I would know” she told her with a beaming smile as if she was very proud of coming to that conclusion. 

Annoyed Brigitte asked for her to repeat her name, which Christy very enthusiastically did, while muttering about how she had a headache now from how strangely hyper Christy was even after a long shift. Noticing that Christy still had her hand out for a handshake she went and gave her the handshake so she would finally be left alone. ”Do you want to hang out?” Christy asked politely, confused as to why she asked Brigitte mentioned her question, ”I thought us knowing each other's names means we’re friends now” Christy replied sounding a bit dejected at the question. 

Feeling slightly bad at seeing how her cheerful mood disappeared from the question she spoke up, ”how about we meet up at the park and we could get to know each other more I guess,” her answer slowly turning into a question near the end. Upon hearing the offer Christy perked up and instantly agreed asking a time and day. Waving goodbye as she left Christy skipped out leaving Brigitte upset with herself for asking something like that especially when she couldn’t have cared less about making a friend. Sighing was all she seemed to be doing today as she walked out the door taking a sip of her water. 

Her days seemed to pass too soon for her liking and before she knew it, it was Saturday, the dreaded day she would have to acknowledge Christy and pretend to be interested in whatever she would bring up. 

Sitting down on the bench she heard the crunching of leaves getting closer. Turning around on the bench she noticed Christy frantically waving as she ran closer, seeming a bit confused she made a face but realized that no, Christy wasn’t in fact running for her life she was just as hyper as always. As she stopped in front of the bench Christy looked up and her neck made a cracking noise that Brigitte winced at. 

Trying to form a sentence as she regained some of the air in her lungs, from rushing over to the bench at what looked like a hundred miles per hour, she started saying a bunch of different words until she figured out what she was going to say. ”I’m so excited you came I didn’t think you would y'know because you seem like you’d rather sleep all day,” thinking for a second about what she said she quickly apologized, ”Oh wait I’m so sorry I didn’t mean that in a rude way” she repeated over and over each apology having a few different stutters and words. 

During her panicked apologies she had accidently smacked Brigitte in the face with her arms flailing all over the place, ”I know you’re trying to apologize or whatever but you literally hit me in the face just now” stopping and focusing on Brigitte for the first time since she started apologizing she saw a grumpy Brigitte sitting with her arms crossed and an overly annoyed look on her face. A light blush came over her face as she hid her face in her hands and decided to just sit down instead of coming off as an even bigger mess. 

It became awkward very fast between Christy with her pink face in her hands and the upset and ready to go home Brigitte, deciding they couldn’t sit like this all day Brigitte began asking questions in a monotone voice,”so uh what’s your favorite color. ”Peeking out of her hands at the sound of Brigitte’s voice she became less embarrassed and answered with a simple, ”yellow what about you?” ”I like red the most,” noticing that the conversation wasn’t going anywhere Brigitte rolled her eyes, ”listen I’m not upset anymore okay so can we just talk?” 

The silence was replaced with short questions and soon a friendly conversation bloomed into something more personal, ”so uhm Brigitte do you have any siblings,” Looking away Brigitte stayed quiet for a few moments before whispering out, ”I had a little sister” Hearing the choice of words Christy sprung a completely unrelated topic into the middle of what Brigitte was saying. ”Do you wanna walk around the park, there are piles of leaves we can step in and everything and the weather is really nice” she asked while tilting her head to the side a little. 

Meeting eyes they both got up and picked a direction to walk in. Red, yellow, orange and brown leaves surrounded them both above their heads and under their feet crunching sounds mixing with the wind howling, ”are we friends now,” Christy asked. Letting out an ‘mhm’ without thinking Brigitte continued their topic from earlier, everything spilling out before she could think about what she was saying. She had been keeping it to herself for so long that the thought of having someone new listen to her made it impossible for her to stay silent. ”I had a sister,” a distant look in her eyes was identifiable when they picked a tree to sit down under for a little while. ”Had?” Christy asked not sure if she was crossing any boundaries, ”yeah,” Brigitte trailed off only to pick up her sentence once a few seconds had passed. ”She was four years younger than me and had the warmest laugh,” a watery chuckle passing through her lips as she started tracing the shapes of the trees with her finger. 

Seeing this as okay to keep talking about this, Christy asked a few more questions and got a whispered answer from Brigitte each time. Eventually a heavy atmosphere formed around them and the next thing they knew the sun was going down and there they sat staring at the sky, dead leaves circling them. Hearing a sniffling coming from next to her Christy looked over to Brigitte to see tears in her eyes while she attempted to hide them, a saddened smile came over Christy’s face as she scooted closer and wrapped an arm around Brigitte, hugging her close whilst tears flowed down her cheeks. Wind passed, sending a shiver over both of them. They stayed for the next few hours, just them, the dark sky and the dead leaves piled everywhere.

Hearing snoring Brigitte rubbed her eyes that were still heavy with sleep and sat up. Looking around she saw tons of stars shining and it looked as if it couldn’t have been more than a few hours since she seemed to fall asleep. She felt how cold it was with only a thin sweater on, but how could she have known she would fall asleep in a park after talking with Christy. Her train of thought suddenly stopped when she remembered Christy and looked over, seeing her sleeping form leaning with an arm still wrapped around her. Letting out a shaky breath with relief that Christy was still there she shifted so Christy would be laying down in her lap instead so she wouldn’t wake up with sore muscles. 

Moving a little so that her back was touching the tree she looked down at Christy sleeping in her lap, a small smile crept up her face while she began running her fingers though Christy’s hair softly. She scanned the area a bit, it had to be around two thirty now because of how the sun hadn’t risen yet. Feeling moving in her lap she glanced down, making eye contact with Christy. They both peered at each other for a few minutes before Christy opened her mouth to say something. She sat with her mouth hanging open before snapping it shut and instead sitting up and putting her hand on her forehead. 

Murmuring a few things to herself she leaned back onto the same tree as Brigitte. ”Uh,” she seemed to be out of words as she alternatively settled for sitting in silence. Unable to tell how much time had passed they sat for a while longer before Brigitte cleared her throat, ”I think we should get going,” she spoke as she got up and dusted herself off. Copying her actions Christy got up and they started walking again.

”It might be a long walk back to your place do you uh,” she rubbed the back of her neck again nervously, ”want to sleep over until it’s lighter outside?” Nodding her head Christy passed a hushed thank you over. Unsurprisingly there were still cars out driving to who knows where. Reaching closer to her building Brigitte spoke again, ”I’m sorry if it’s messy I wasn’t really expecting visitors.” Grabbing her keys she held them out so they wouldn’t be waiting even longer. Christy looked around taking in the places around her since she never came near this area besides work. Not noticing Brigitte had stopped she bumped into her almost sending them both to the ground. 

Before she had the chance to fall onto the hard concrete Brigitte grabbed the handle to the building, stopping them from both going tumbling and most likely breaking something. Turning around Brigitte resumed putting her key into the door like nothing had happened, however behind her Christy was wheezing from having all the air knocked out of her like a pinata at a birthday party, ”I’m,” she coughed, ”sorry for bumping into you,” she finished finally regaining some air. Waving her hand dismissively Brigitte simply opened the door waiting for Christy to follow.

”Are we taking the elevator?” Brigitte shook her head, ”no they’re repairing the elevators, they break all the time they just need to replace them already,” she said pinching her nose with a hint of exasperation in her voice. Heading up the stairs after having the wind pulled out of her turned out to be a harder task than Christy had planned for. Hearing wheezing behind her still Brigitte turned around and helped Christy up the stairs. ”Which floor do you live on,” she managed to get out, ”the tenth floor,” Brigitte replied curtly. Christy groaned all the way up the stairs until she was almost dragging herself to the door of Brigitte’s apartment.

”Don’t lay on the hallway floors, they're dirty,” Brigitte scolded her but Christy had no intention of getting up and using her feet. Rolling her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that week she opened her door after a few wrong keys. Knowing Christy wouldn’t get up and use her feet she threatened to close the door on her which elicited a reaction so quick Brigitte swore she felt a gust of wind follow behind Christy. Throwing herself onto the couch Christy muttered a good night and fell asleep before she even got a response.

Shaking her head at Christy’s actions she closed the door behind her before turning off the lights and starting a fresh cup in the coffee pot. She plugged in her phone, ”3:12am,” she read out quietly, setting it down she walked over to grab a mug and turn on her laptop. Setting up the computer on the table she took a sip of the hot drink and opened her half written essay, College seemed pointless to her but in order to get a nicer home she would have to work at a higher paying job than a small cafe. 

She went back and forth between taking tips from different articles and typing new sentences. She read over what she had just written, it wasn’t complete but it was so hard for her to keep her eyes open that it didn’t seem worth it to finish it right now. Bringing her cup to the sink she took a look over to Christy passed out on the couch, despite her body fighting not going straight to bed she brought a blanket to Christy and draped it over her carefully so she wouldn’t wake her up. 

The feeling of aching in her muscles reminded her to head to bed before it had a chance to worsen. She flopped onto her bed, staring at the ceiling before laying at her side and checking the time again. Her eyes widened when the numbers read ‘5:48am’ since when did so much time pass, she could have sworn it was only half an hour of writing or so. Looking out the window she could see the sun start to come up, she felt her eyes become heavy but she kept trying to fight sleep. She just didn’t want to go to sleep right away, what if tomorrow was actually Monday and she would be late for work or what if, a million thoughts raced through her mind as she double and triple checked the date, feeling the sun peeking through her blinds she checked the time again,’6:01am,’ she finally stopped fighting sleep and closed her eyes. 

Weird loud noises pierced through her dream forcing her awake, feeling the heaviness of going to sleep so late set in so she simply laid still, staring at her ceiling for a few minutes. A loud bang was heard that came from her kitchen drawing her attention away from her thoughts, panic set when she didn’t remember having anyone over. She fumbled for anything around her and slowly walked into the kitchen, relaxing when she realized she did in fact have someone else over and no one was trying to break in.

Setting down her random self defense object she set her eyes on Christy doing what looked like trying to make breakfast but from the way it was going she might as well have been performing the part of a clown in a circus. Raising her eyebrows she sent a questioning look towards the one woman circus act in her kitchen, feeling eyes on her Christy whipped around looking like a toddler caught with their hand in the cookie jar. ”Haha what are you doing here,” she nervously asked, ”I live here,” Brigitte stated her eyebrows raised as far as they would go now, ”oh right,” she started wringing her hands. ”So uh do you want some,” Brigitte pointed a finger at herself like it was a question of who else she was talking to. Giving her a deadpan expression she took it as a yes, ”go sit down I’ll bring it to you once I’m done.” After more running around and loud noises came from the kitchen an omelet was brought to the table with a glass of orange juice, ”I had to make due with what I had so it might taste a bit off. She set the plate down and walked back in the kitchen and came back with a plate of toast, ”so why did you feel the need to make me breakfast?” Biting into her toast she spoke with her mouth full, ”to thank you for letting me stay over,” disgusted at Christy speaking with food in her mouth, she told her to stop talking with her mouth full which she instantly stopped doing.

Taking the first bite she saw Christy stop eating and staring intensely like Brigitte was a judge on a cooking show and about to tell her if her food passed the round.”So,” she drew her word out, ”how is it,” “uh it’s good, it tastes slightly strange like you said but it’s edible at least,” seeming satisfied with the answer she resumed eating her toast.

”Do you have anything to do today,” Christy questioned, ”no offense but my social battery is drained so after breakfast can you leave?” Blinking at her Christy realized that Brigitte was still the same blunt anti-social person as yesterday and it would take a miracle to be anything but co workers with the label ‘friends’ slapped on. ”It’s okay I’ll go after,”and so they sat in peace for the next hour or so until Christy left. 

Laying down on the couch she shut her eyes for a while longer.


	3. The shutter of a camera

Waking up Brigitte barely registered her alarm blaring loudly. Rolling off the couch she got up realizing that she hadn’t napped, she slept all night and it was now Monday. Trudging towards her bathroom she went through her normal routine and even had extra time for breakfast but decided to leave early as she felt if she stayed at home any longer she’d fall back asleep.

She got quite a few stares but it was understandable since she looked like something straight out of a zombie movie. Rubbing her eyes she barely kept herself awake when her boss was staring with an emotion Brigitte was too tired to make out, it wasn’t surprising for her to be this tired considering she never got decent sleep on the couch. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Christy put on her apron and name tag but when she blinked Christy was looking right back at her. Figuring there would be a chance to talk to her during her break she ignored Christy and headed over to her station at the register. Barely keeping up with the orders she knew she was due for another lecture from her boss about not getting proper sleep, but her energy was too low to care about anything but talking to Christy during her break.

Before she knew it her break had started, the only reason she had noticed was her boss telling her she needed to move because someone else was taking the next shift. Walking over to Christy she was bombarded with questions from the other, ”Are you okay? You look like you came back from the dead.” “Did you go to sleep last night?” “Do you f-,” her last question was cut off by Brigitte raising her hand to signal she wasn’t going to talk until it was quiet. Getting the hint Christy became silent, waiting for an answer. ”First I went to sleep last night. I just don’t get good sleep when I’m using my couch and second I know I look like a zombie. Plenty of people have been looking at me like that today and even said it when they didn’t think I heard.” An ‘oh’ came from Christy when her brows furrowed and she seemed to be concentrating on a thought. ”Are you okay, you’re thinking really hard over there,” the sentence came out more like a joke than intended. Oh well she always made jokes at the wrong time anyways. 

Glancing up Christy simply nodded, ”yeah I was just trying to see if there’s anything interesting we can do today,” “what makes you think I’ll say yes to your plans?” She put a hand on her hip and leaned to the side, ”well you have nothing else going on so I’m taking it as an automatic yes,” “that’s not fair though I never have plans.” Shaking her head Christy began talking again, ”I want to get to know you more since we didn’t really talk about anything that helps me know you better last time, especially since you fell asleep,” her tone sounding very playful, ”don’t act all high and mighty you also fell asleep.”

Raising her hands in surrender Christy teasingly admitted she also fell asleep, ”we don’t have much more time before your next shift but we’ll talk more about it after okay?” Giving Christy an unenthusiastic smile she put her apron back on before going up to the register.

”Thanks for ordering come again soon,” the tight smile on her face disappeared the moment the last customer left, taking their desserts with them.

Packing up her stuff in the backroom Christy strolled up, ”so since I don’t know any of your hobbies or really anything I’ll let you pick what we do so I can get to know more about you, how does that sound?” Pondering it for a minute Brigitte agreed, ”so what’re we doing captain,” she asked in a fake accent so terrible that Brigitte couldn’t tell what she was imitating. ”Uh well I guess if you’re up for it we could take pictures,” “pictures?” Christy asked confused, ”um yeah I like doing photography, Christy gazed at Brigitte with stars in her eyes, the excitement radiating off her, ”I also do photography what else do you like to do, rubbing the back of her neck she darted her eyes around not used to talking about herself like this, ”I also paint and I like to paint the photos I take.”

”That’s so cool I like photography but I want to be a historian one day I think it’s so amazing to be able to look deeper into history and investigate and just generally see more,” Brigitte might’ve needed sunglasses with how blinding Christy’s cheerfulness was.

The whole time she kept rambling as they walked along the sidewalk with Brigitte only being able to catch bits and pieces of what was being said, ”hold on a moment, is there anywhere you want to take pictures specifically?” “Yeah I do,” “What are you going to take pictures with though,” Brigitte pulled a camera out of her backpack, ”woah do you always keep that with you?” Brigitte bobbed her head up and down,”you never know when inspiration might hit.”

“So where were you considering,” putting her chin into her hand Brigitte shifted into a thinking position, which made Christy want to just hug her until she couldn’t feel her arms anymore, like a little sibling who did something so adorable you never want to let them go,”what’re you giggling about over there, ”Brigitte wiggled a finger at Christy making her giggle harder, ”you look so cute when you think,” Brigitte raised an eyebrow, ”but I look like a zombie so that’s kind of weird,” “well then you can be my little zombie, besides haven’t you ever seen one of those zombie movies where the zombies are nice? Anyways do you know where you want to take pictures?”

“Yeah I’ve figured it out, since fall is ending and it’ll be winter soon I want to take some pictures of the leaves and water before the snow starts.”

They made their way to the river, sometimes stopping to snap photos of piles of leaves and trees. “I’m pretty sure that was all my exercise for the day,” Christy quipped, making them both snort, ”okay how do you plan on taking these?” “Well if you look around it’s getting pretty late so I plan on taking pictures with reflections on the water once it gets late enough,” looking through her camera she positioned for the correct angle which led to also being able to see Christy trying to peek over to look through the lens. She shooed her away from the camera and instead chose to make small talk until the sun went down.

”You never told me about your family,” Christy cracked her neck again, it seemed like a habit of hers that Brigitte was just catching onto. ”My family isn’t anything special so there’s not much to say besides regular middle class family,” she looked around seeming quite nervous but Brigitte ignored it since it must just be because she was opening up about family to someone new, “but I will say that we’ve had a lot of cats,” that caught Brigitte’s attention for sure, ”how many cats are we talking,” giggling into her arm Christy answered, ”about 6 during my time living in that house and I’m pretty sure they just adopted another one.” Brigitte just looked baffled at even imagining having that many cats in one house, ”well that must be one cozy house huh.”

Christy nodded and they talked about none important topics like different foods for the next few hours or so. ”Okay it’s finally the perfect time of day,” Brigitte quieted and started snapping pictures. From behind Christy watched, admiring the softer side of Brigitte who wasn’t always sarcastic and grumpy. Feeling a smile on her face Christy kept looking at Brigitte, each time noticing a different detail or habit of hers. ”What are you sighing about back there,” Brigitte questioned, not taking her eye off the lens, looking started Christy hadn’t grasped the fact that she was now sighing out loud instead of just in her head. ”Nothing I was just breathing, is there something wrong with that?” Clicking her tongue at the obvious lie Brigitte continued taking more pictures.

Drifting off into her daydreams Christy jumped when she was tapped on the shoulder by Brigitte, ”revenge for all the times you scared me by doing the same thing,” shaking her head at the terrible attempt at revenge Christy blinked a few times trying to bring herself back to reality. ”Did you really finish taking pictures already,” Brigitte looked at her with a face that asked if that was a serious question, ”what? I wasn’t paying attention,” Brigitte looked at her, ”I can tell.” Embarrassed at her stupid question she reflected on this past week with Brigitte, she was embarrassing herself a lot in front of Brigitte huh? 

Feeling fingers intertwined with hers she saw Brigitte who was pretending she didn’t notice what she did, grinning Christy gripped her hand tighter while they walked. Out of the corner of her eye Brigitte saw Christy stroll with a warm smile on her face that increased after their hands got tighter around each other. 

No small talk was made between them which created a clear difference from the last time they walked with each other, this time they didn’t need as much conversation to be comfortable. When they got to the corner of a sidewalk they tried calling a taxi over. It didn’t take very long before someone pulled over and Christy told them the location she was heading to,”I can do that,” the man spoke with a heavy accent that made his words seem drawn out. Waving to her as she left Christy promised to text her when she got home.

Pulling out her phone Brigitte messed around with it while trudging home. The walk was really short since she started walking faster without knowing, being too distracted with her phone. Smelling the rotting garbage in the alley next to her building she scrunched up her nose, moving somewhere new once she found a better job was a thought that stayed while she walked up the flights of stairs past the dingy broken elevators and tired people coming in and out of their apartments.

She made it inside already sensing another long night ahead of her as she set up her laptop again to write some more of her assigned essays that always seemed to need more added on. The buzzing of her phone next to her broke her focus, it was a short text from Christy,’I got home safe, have a good night :-).’ Brigitte chuckled at the emoji at the end of the sentence before setting her phone face down and typing more, occasionally switching the music playing. 

An alarm on her phone went off,’4:30am’, it was time to get at least a little bit of sleep otherwise she’d be a zombie like yesterday and the idea of that wasn’t very pleasant. She sluggishly walked over to her bed, two and a half hours of sleep was better than nothing right? 

Remembering the text from Christy she opened her phone and quickly typed a message,’Good. I can’t replace my late night walking partner yet.’ Looking over it she hit send.


	4. Of bookstores and puddles

Sitting up a pounding headache was forming, making her legs shake as she walked to her bathroom. She held her head, placing her forehead on the forehead on the cool tile. Hearing the alarm go off her ears began ringing which made her headache so much worse. Grunting at the overwhelming pain from her whole head she slid to the floor, resting her head against the wooden doors of her sink. The alarm wasn’t as noticeable after a few minutes so she walked with her eyes closed, hands still on her forehead. She blindly grabbed her phone and tapped the whole screen eventually succeeding in turning off the noisy sound. She sat on the floor for a while longer before very slowly walking to her bathroom once more to get ready this time.

When she got to her kitchen she searched through her cabinets, finding a bottle of aspirin at the back. Unscrewing the lid she checked the back for an amount and popped a few in her mouth, washing it down with a glass of water. She leaned against the counter and checked the time,’7:51am’, she was for sure going to be late but the pain in her head made it hard to focus on anything else. Knowing she wasn’t in a good condition to drive she figured getting a taxi was a smart move.

Since it was an early Tuesday morning finding a taxi nearby didn’t take nearly as long as she pictured. Mumbling out where she wanted to go she put her head on the headrest and apparently fell asleep since the driver was shaking her awake looking annoyed and telling her the amount due. Fishing around in her backpack she pulled a few bills and coins. When she got out there was almost no time to close the door before the driver sped off, likely in a hurry to find other people. 

She opened the back door and looked at the time on her phone,’8:14am’ she was in for it now. Her boss saw her and surprisingly he didn’t say anything, instead choosing to look at her with a mix of pity and disappointment. If he wasn’t going to fire right then and there maybe she had a better chance of keeping the job than she thought. Feeling cold again she realized why her boss was looking at her like that, she had walked in without a coat even though there was a thick blanket of snow, that she didn’t see, looking like someone dead who was dug up and forced to go to work. Keeping her down the headache flared up again causing her to make a face once her boss stepped back out front. The last time she could recall having a headache this bad was during her time in school. A few memories from that time came back to her, making her head feel more full. She shook her head again and followed her work routine that felt longer each time she had to think about something. Whatever, she’d just ask for some sick days to clear up this awful headache and it would be all better right?

Towards the end of her shift she looked around for Christy but the spot she was usually stationed at was taken by a petite lady with straight brown hair. A bit confused she waited until the rest of the customers left before stepping over to that section of the counter, ”uh do you know where Christy is,” she scolded herself, should’ve asked if she knew a Christy first instead of assuming she knew. However the lady apparently knew who Christy was as she answered with a simple, ”she’s home sick.” Hearing that brought Brigitte a weird sense of relief, she did just have a regular headache after all and must just be sick since it was now flu season. With a small weight lifted off her chest she checked the nametag on the other, ”Thanks, Claire?” Giving her an awkward thumbs up the lady now identified as Claire turned back to what she was doing.

When she walked out the back door she felt her headache fade a little and it became bearable thanks to the aspirin from earlier. Not in the mood to go home just yet she stumbled around for a while looking for things to do. It was starting to get late but the sun hadn’t gone down so far so she didn't go back, rather opting to check out the new museum she had never bothered with because it was forty minutes from her place on foot and twenty five minutes by car but she never had the energy for either. Heading into the museum she paid for a basic ticket and walked around, hearing her footsteps echo off the tall ceiling and walls surrounding her. It smelled nice in there, like the first page of a new untouched book. Or like a freshly washed pile of laundry on a warm spring day. Either way the time slipped by as she stared at each art piece and sometimes texting Christy the names of the artworks so she could also enjoy them.

The staff told her it was closing time and she had to go but was welcome to come back tomorrow. When she exited the only shadow that was with her now was from the moon following her every move. The chilling weather of December crept up her back and hugged her, leaving her with icy fingertips that only slightly warmed up when she took her arms and held herself with them. The time read ten forty two pm, how did everyday seem to end so quickly she found herself questioning, but she didn’t think about that much longer, alternatively choosing to stop inside a bookstore with late hours. Her eyes wandered over all the different titles and shelves wondering which book was correct for her mood right now. Skimming over descriptions on the back of books she noted the fact that the pain from her headache was now a dull aching instead of an intense throbbing. Silently thanking nobody she continued to push through all the books to check for one that seemed interesting. 

Selecting a romance novel and sitting down in the seats in the cafe section she pulled out her phone again. The phone lit up with a text from Christy saying she was going to take a nap to try and sleep off the nausea. Putting her phone back into the pocket of her jeans she slipped to the first page of the novel. A short while later a server came over and asked if she’d like a cup of coffee, accepting the offer she ordered a cappuccino. As she was about to reach the thirty second page a drink was brought out and placed in front of her, she blew some of the steam and took a short sip, resuming her book between sips. The plot of the book was wrapping up, it was pretty good for something she had low expectations for. Taking the final sip of her coffee she thanked the people behind the counter and placed the book back where she found it.  
The time was now one fifty eight am. She sent Christy a goodnight and walked all the way back to where she parked her car, underestimating how long the walk was. By the time she got back there she would be able to get maybe a few hours of sleep at best. Laying her head down on the steering wheel she felt the effects of how little sleep she was getting make an impact. It didn’t matter though she had to get that degree to finally move out of her run down apartment building. Silently talking to herself she agreed to get up and drive home on the count of three.

Pushing the door open and laying on the floor her alarm was ringing out again,’4:30am’, she just felt her eyes water and didn't make an effort to move. There was no point in trying to go to sleep tonight when the essay was due in a week and her slacking had her only writing small parts here and there. Rolling over and standing up she felt dizzy again, the headache she thought had gone away slowly starting up again. She lazily set up the laptop not bothering to sit at the table, instead still sitting on the floor half awake. Typing letter by letter, a headache turning into a migraine she simply wondered how life could turn her away and give her the short end of the stick. Remembering how she hadn’t showered in a few days she stopped typing and dragged herself to the bathroom. She sat on the floor of the shower staring blankly at the wall, a few stray tears escaping her eyes from the pure lack of sleep. Through the water she heard an alarm going off in her living room,’6:30am,’ it was time to repeat yesterday and hope it turns out better.

Not bothering to put anything away she put a piece of bread into the toaster and spread some butter once it popped out. Crunching on the toast she gathered her keys and ran her fingers through her hair in an attempt to somewhat comb it back. The alarm for seven am rang cut through the silence in the apartment and as she opened the door to leave her reflection in the hallway mirror, looked back at her. The staring contest didn’t last long, she couldn’t stand looking at what the sleepless nights had turned her into. Despite leaving an hour early she still made it there 10 minutes late, her boss didn’t even bother reprimanding her anymore but choosing to leave a pastry out for her when she got there. Call it pity all you want but to her it was free breakfast so it didn’t matter why she got it.

Once again when she looked over to see Christy she was met with the boring brown hair and not the bright color of Christy’s. She missed looking at her when she arrived, she always looked forward to which color it was going to be for the week. A sad laugh left her, how had Christy got her wrapped around her finger in only a month? She knew the customers must’ve thought she was very rude by the way she talked in a monotone voice to them but she couldn’t care less. She was about to ask Christy where she lived so she could visit her but figured she’d only make the other girl worry about Brigitte’s ongoing ‘I look dead’ appearance. Putting her phone away she made the final decision to not visit her and to instead walk around again. She was starting to notice a pattern, she would go to work dead tired then not see Christy there and decide to walk around until it was super late then do the bare minimum for her essay and chug a cup of coffee to get going for the next day. Throw in the occasional nap and you had her boring never ending cycle of life. The fact that she knew how everyday would go made her want to do something insane, maybe go skydiving or jump out of a running train, the ideas got more and more dangerous. She just wanted to spice up life a bit, was that too much to ask? She walked around again, finding herself in the bookstore picking out a new book with a cappuccino again. The next few days repeated, no Christy, walking around for hours and ending her night in the bookstore with a different novel and cup of coffee. 

One night though when she was laying down on her floor she felt a sudden sickness and ran to throw up. Laying against the cool tile she knew she must have a bug or something similar. Funny enough though the next day Christy was back at her station, bright and bubbly like she never left. At one point she thought that maybe Christy was a figment of her imagination but seeing her there serving people made her almost cry with the realization that she wasn’t losing her mind. Before she could walk over to her she was met with the face of her boss. He crossed his arms and made eye contact with her, ”Brigitte I think you should take a few days off and rest, you look like you’re going to pass out at any second.” She just blinked and stayed quiet for a while, ”Brigitte?” He looked concerned, ”you zoned out again are you alright?” Finding it in her to respond she protested his request, ”but I can’t afford to do that, I can barely afford to stay in my place now I can’t possibly do that,” she didn't leave any room for him to go against her. He gave up and left her with a, ”be careful then okay? I can’t have you dying in my cafe.” She stood there for a little before going back up to the register and apologizing to the patron for not taking their order already.

Her shift ended and for what felt like the first time in a century Christy came up to her, a large smile on her face as she came closer. When she stopped in front of Brigitte she almost felt less sick? It was weird but she almost could feel herself be a bit less sick when Christy came up to her after not seeing her for a week. She had only known her for almost two months and was already head over heels for her and her neon hair. Arms wrapped around her and gave her a tight squeeze, ”I missed you so much, it was awful being sick for so long that I couldn’t see you for a whole week, how dumb is that” A cheesy smile was plastered on Brigitte’s face and she felt like she was as light as a feather, how sick she was earlier being forgotten. Christy gasped and squished Brigitte’s face between her palms, ”you’re smiling, like actually smiling, who are you and what did you do with my Brigitte?” Brigitte giggled and swatted the hand away, ”I’m serious, are you feeling okay, you must be sick if you’re willingly smiling.” Brigitte shook her head and spoke up, ”it’s nothing I just uh,” she almost spilled everything but stopped herself and thought carefully about what to say before finishing her sentence, ”I found this bookstore that has a really good cafe and there’s some novels I really want to show you.” Christy eyed her, ”are you already replacing this cafe, do you not love it enough?” She teased her and pinched her cheeks, Brigitte huffed, ”maybe I don’t, maybe I’ve already found another Christy who spells her name the normal way.” Pretending to be offended she put her head to the side and faked being upset but she wasn’t strong enough to ignore Brigitte when she laughed again, ”okay you win show me the way to your perfect bookstore.” 

The bell on the doorframe was ringing when they opened the door and paced over to the romance section quickly. Filling her arms with the novels she had read the past week Christy peeked at the titles, ”wow I didn’t take you for the cheesy romance type,” shrugging off her slight embarrassment to the comment she replied back, ”well I guess you never fully know someone,” agreeing with the statement they sat at a table and ordered hot drinks. ”Okay start with this one then,” she rambled on about the order of the books, not taking a breath until she finished. Looking quite troubled about the lack of stops in the run on sentence Christy questioned if she was dying from no air, to which Brigitte rolled her eyes at and just told her to start reading.

She took a long sip from her drink and watched as Christy picked up every word and immersed herself into the plot. A wave of anxiousness washed over her, after Christy went home she would have to go home and sit alone until she could see her at work tomorrow. She made a promise to herself to spend every last second she could with her. She saw Christy put down one book and pick up the next, her cup almost empty. She went to take another sip but found the cup was now completely empty. Brigitte pushed her cup forward and offered her a sip, ”ah I would but I just got over being sick, I’m sure you understand,” nodding Brigitte dragged the cup back towards herself.

A light drizzle hit the concrete outside, fogging up the windows as it went on. ”Should we wait out the rain?” Brigitte thought about it, deciding what the better choice was, ”I think we should,” Christy hummed and went back to reading. Feeling bored Brigitte got up and looked for a new book to read. A few caught her attention but none seemed good enough to invest her full concentration into. One book in particular seemed the best out of all the ones she passed, it was a romance novel but with a twist. What the twist was she didn’t know but she was willing to find out as she plopped the book down on the table. Christy glanced up from her page and it made butterflies form in Brigitte’s stomach, ”what’s that?” She tilted her head to the side, scratching the back of her neck again Brigitte looked away, ”just a random book that might be good,” Christy made an ‘O’ with her mouth and gazed down at her book, picking up from where she left off.

Christy closed her book and set it down on the table, ”it doesn’t seem like the rain is going to let up anytime soon, I think we’ll just have to walk in it until we reach your car, ” pouting Brigtte voiced her opinion about getting caught in the rain, ”but it’s so icky and when it gets on your clothes it smells gross.” Christy ignored her and walked over to the counter of the cafe, paying them before Brigitte could disagree. Placing the books back on the shelves Christy dragged Brigitte outside, ”what are you, a cat who hates water?” Brigitte didn’t say anything about the comparison and chose to focus on the water falling from the sky preferably. Christy spun around in the rain while Brigitte checked the time,’12:01am’. ”C’mon just dance with me,” raising an eyebrow at the suggestion she had no time to prepare herself before she was pulled into the downpour. 

Christy’s laughs filled the cold air while they spun around, getting soaked as they stepped in puddles. Brigitte peered at Christy as she laughed, the corners of her mouth going up and her posture making her appear that she had all the time in the world. The sight made her feel like she was floating on a cloud, only thinking what was in front of her. Brigitte loosened her own posture and laughed with her, her shoulders going up and down from each giggle while they both slow-danced in the rain, butterflies multiplying by the second but she didn’t worry about that, she was utterly lost in the moment and anything outside of their little bubble in the rain felt fake.


	5. Pretty little petals scattered about

Walking into work she was still in a dreamlike state from the perfect evening from the night before. She knew she must’ve looked like a lovesick puppy but that wasn’t important. She bumped into something and fell, ”Brigitte? Is that you, why, you look so much better,” she gazed upwards to meet eyes with her boss who, apparently, thought she looked like a normal human again. He squeezed her shoulder to get her attention and when he did he looked almost alarmed by how much better she looked from the day before. ”I don’t know how you look like a different person but I’m glad you’re doing better now,” he gave her a warm smile before patting her on the back and going back to his station in the cafe. She didn’t say anything in return to him before he walked away. 

Tying her apron she saw Christy come in and felt like passing out. At this point she was light headed, but she was at work so she had to get her feelings under control as to not make a fool of herself in front of everyone in the establishment. She waved at Christy when the other glanced up at her after tying her apron too, ”You’re in a cheery mood two days in a row? You must be a clone or something,” Brigitte shook her head and moved in her direction, ”you’re right I’m not actually Brigitte just her clone. ”So,” she extended the word for a while, ”do you have any plans for today,” now Christy looked very thrown off, ”I was joking before but you must actually be a clone if you’re asking me to hang out without a push from me,” flashing her a weak smile Brigitte felt herself turn into a puddle of happiness.

Before either of them could talk more their boss peeked around the corner, ”we open in ten minutes, I need you both in the front setting up,” they didn’t even have the chance to say anything to him since he went away just as quickly as he came. Brigitte pointed her thumb at the doorway, ”I guess we should go now, but we can talk later right?” Christy nodded and they walked to put the pastries out and wipe off the counters with the other employees.

Stretching in place a loud crack came from her spine, ”can you stop breaking your back next to me,” That didn’t stop Christy from proceeding to crack every bone in her body though. Brigitte rolled her eyes and cringed when a different cracking sound sounded out from each place in Christy’s body. ”Are you just doing it to annoy me now,” “you bet it, the more you ask me to stop doing something annoying the more I do it,” Brigitte grumbled about ‘pesky kids these days.’ she wasn’t quiet enough though, ”what do you mean kids these days, I’m older than you,” she said, her voice feigned annoyance, ”kids these days don’t respect their elders I’ll tell you that.” Brigitte stifled a giggle, not ready to give into their fake argument and admit defeat. They had a small staring contest until one of them gave in and eventually Christy did, ”why do you always win our arguments,” she whined loudly. 

Brigitte ignored her and was thinking of more things they could do when a cutesy song played out from Christy’s phone. Christy put a finger up to her lips to signal for Brigitte to stay quiet while they walked. The call seemed short but judging by the expressions on Christy’s face it must've been quite a serious topic. She knew she wasn’t hiding her curiosity well since Christy caught on and turned to her and spoke with a calm tone, ”my mother is ill and I have to go home and take care of her for a while,” Brigitte have no doubt in her mind now that she looked like a fish out of water. Despite all the things she wanted to say all that came out was an,’oh’. Christy pinched the bridge of her nose, ”I was hoping she was okay but since it hasn’t been too long since she’s been really ill I should’ve seen this coming.” Brigitte was about to ask a question but didn’t have the chance before Christy interrupted her, ”my family isn’t really from here so I’m going to have to leave the area for a few months, but I’ll make sure to stay in contact. I really wish there was another way that I could still stay here but I don’t want her health to get worse.” Brigtte shook her head, ”no it’s okay I understand you should go, but can I ask when you’re leaving?” Christy kicked a pebble on the sidewalk while stuffing her hands in her pockets, ”the day after tomorrow.” Brigitte felt a strong sense of dread at the thought of being alone again even if she and Christy would still virtually talk but pushed back her feelings so they wouldn’t make Christy feel worse about having to leave. ”Well then why don’t we make this a fun day before you have to leave and I’ll see you off at the airport, ” Brigitte offered a weak smile and ran her foot over the cracks in the sidewalk. Christy nodded her head and they walked to the bookstore for one of their last cups of coffee together for a while.

That night Brigitte wrote up a bucket list of things for them to do, after all who knows when she would see Christy again after this day. Pushing back the negative thoughts she kept writing and put the list in her pocket once she was done since she had a habit of not bringing important items if they weren’t already put in places she couldn’t leave them behind the night before.

The next day when she arrived to work there was a noticeable difference in her attitude, excited but sad at the same time. By the time she got to Christy she was met with the sight of the woman sitting at one of their tables instead of putting on an apron and nametag. ”Aren’t you going to put on your uniform?” Christy looked up at her from her phone, ”did you forget already, I told the boss about my situation and he said I don’t have to come in this week since it would be pointless for me to if i’m just going to leave once this day is up. Well at least for now.” Christy’s eyes made their way back to the small device. At the reminder of this last day Brigitte pulled the crumpled list out of her pocket and smoothed it out on the table, ”I made a short bucket list of things for us to do before you leave.” Christy grabbed the list and looked it over but noticing the time she shooed at Brigitte to go and reassured her that she’d sit and look over the list and wait for her once the shifts were over.

Christy sauntered up to the counter and pretended to look over the menu, ”oh I didn’t expect to see you here Brigitte,” not giving Brigitte time to think of a comeback she picked a random drink and sat back at her table. Her eyes hovered over the list, making sure to carefully look over what was written down. Her name was called and she saw a cup of hot cocoa with her name on the side sitting on the end of the counter waiting for her. When she picked up the cup a few doodles were scattered alongside her name,it was quite cute how she tried to act so cold and mysterious but was actually just a big softy. Nevertheless she took a sip and tasted the flavor of fresh warm cocoa that she hadn’t had in so long. She stood there and took long sips for a little longer before someone behind her cleared their throat. Suddenly aware other people were trying to get their drinks and she blocking the way was embarrassing so she just mumbled a sorry and quickly got out of the way to speed walk back to her seat.

At some point she had to have fallen asleep waiting for Brigitte to get off work since she was being shaken awake by said person. “Are you ready for the first activity on my list,” Christy sat up and Brigitte led her to the back room so they could leave, ”yeah,” Christy said sleepily. Brigitte hummed and pulled Christy out the door while looking through her phone, ”okay look I found a place,” she checked the phone Brigitte held out and gave a thumbs up. The trip was short considering the fact that they took Brigitte’s car rather than walking. 

Pushing the door open Brigitte held it and waited. ”I can’t believe I’m agreeing to go along with this, you little gremlin,” Brigitte giggled and walked to the front desk, holding out her phone for the lady operating the register to see. She asked them for identification and soon they headed into the back of the shop.

Only about fifteen minutes later they walked back to the front with small matching hearts tattooed on their inner wrists. ”Don’t pout Christy it looks cute, plus you agreed so you can’t blame it on me,” the older of the two just huffed again, ”I knew you were up to no good with that list.” Brigitte booped Christy on the nose, ”nuh uh no complaining you read the list and agreed so there was no trickery,” knowing Brigitte was right she stayed silent while they left the shop to do what was after the matching tattoos on the paper. 

They went to various different shops and even did things like play a game of paintball. The night of warm laughter ended as soon as it started and before she knew it Brigitte was walking back into her apartment to set an alarm so she could see Christy off at the airport.

She awoke the next day with apprehensiveness at the thought of only getting to have had one more morning with Christy before her sudden departure. She couldn’t be selfish though and possibly ask her to stay even after it was clear that her mother was sick and needed her there in case her last moments were near. She knew it was rude of her to say she would rather have Christy with her here instead of being with her sick mother but that’s all she could wish for on her way to the airport. That morning when she woke up she saw a new text from Christy telling her the airport and terminal.

She had stopped and picked up roses from her local corner store as a simple gift. Her palms were sweaty and made her almost drop the flowers. Brigitte tugged at the collar of her shirt and fixed her hair. Practicing in her head what to say she heard someone call out at her. Loud steps came to a halt in front of her and there Christy was out of breath, ”I thought you might’ve slept in by accident because I didn’t see you but i’m happy you made it.” Brigitte cleared her throat and when they stopped in front of Christy’s gate handed her the flowers, ”the reason I was late is because I wanted to send you off with a small gift,” Christy took the flowers and smelt them, setting them down on top of her suitcase after. Christy grabbed her hands and put one of them in between both of hers, ”I love them,” Brigitte blushed and suddenly found the ground very interesting. She then felt arms wrap around her and give her a tight squeeze, ”I’ll try and be back as soon as I can, so don’t go tripping over any other coworkers then take them to read romance novels,” Brigitte let out a laugh as she teared up, ”I won’t but just, just don’t rush because of me, I can wait.” As Christy was about to respond her plane was announced to be boarded right then, ”I”ve got to go now but take care of yourself while I’m gone, I’ll also be calling virtually so it’s not all bad right?” Brigitte quietly agreed and let go, watching her walk over to the entrance of the passenger boarding bridge. Christy gave a brief wave and she felt herself wave back before turning around and trudging back to her car. 

She shoved her hands in her pockets and pulled her scarf a bit closer, the cold weather biting at her. The tears that gathered in her eyes earlier hadn’t left and each thought about the days to come where she would be by herself made more appear. She wiped a few away but they kept coming. She set her head down on the steering wheel and cried, a never ending waterfall coming from her eyes. Her shoulders shook and hiccups came with every tear that emerged. She grabbed the steering wheel tightly and felt her palms become more sweaty because of her firm grip on the wheel. She sobbed and sobbed soon being reduced to a hysterical mess. It didn’t seem fair how she could have something so perfect one second only to have it ripped away the next. 

She started coughing really hard and put her hand over her mouth but when she pulled it away something was different, two or three red petals of a rose were in her palm. She inspected them closer but upon looking closer she saw blood on the edges of the petals. As she was gathering her thoughts she felt an itch in the back of her throat and she coughed out a few more petals. Panic started to set in, what was happening to her? Did she accidentally leave a few petals from Christy’s roses in her car? That didn’t seem logical to her though since there was nothing in her hand prior. She pulled out her phone and typed with shaky hands trying to find out what was happening. However it proved useless since there was nothing of use as far as she could see.

Her mind thought back to her little sister, this situation seeming too familiar for her to be comfortable. She gasped when she recalled seeing her sister hunched over on the bathroom floor one night with flower petals surrounding her. What was the reason behind it though, she tried to think of it. Brigitte thought back to when she rushed to her aid asking what was wrong just to get one of the last things her sister would ever say to her, ”I guess it was one sided after all, funny isn’t it that something so pretty can be deadly.” She held back more tears at the memory. 

So she didn’t know the extent of how deadly these petals could be but she did know the reason now, a stupid one sided love. Who was it for though was the following question, she could only remember really meeting Christy recently. Realization flooded her and she held her head, that had to be wrong it definitely wasn’t one sided. The bloody flower petals in front of spoke otherwise however. She didn’t want to accept that Christy didn’t feel the same way, she couldn’t.

Christy pulled out her phone and sent a text,’hope you’re having a good day, I love ya :),’ but Brigitte’s phone wasn’t the one that pinged with the message.

Sitting in her car with petals around her while she cried her heart out Brigitte was barely taking in any air in between sobs. She muttered random phrases about how it couldn’t be true to herself, coughing up more petals of different colors in the process.

She eventually got herself together and drove home sniffling. When she flopped down on her living floor she pulled out the photo album she was working on for Christy. She hugged it close while the tears continued streaming down her face. She flipped open the scrapbook and caressed the pictures of them together, laughing occasionally at the less serious photos. She got to the last page where the final picture was meant to go and picked up the picture from next to where the scrapbook was. Placing it in the pocket slowly she felt a wave of new tears come to her eyes at the image on the small photo, them huddled together under the public Christmas tree, lights shining brightly and a purely happy smile on her face that look more carefree and joyful than she had been in so long. She wished she could go back to that time when she was blissfully unaware of the future in store for her.

A message lit up her phone,’I got home safely :),’ she didn’t have to check to know who it was from. Anger sparked inside her and she threw her phone across the room as hard as she could. She laid her head on the ground and grabbed at her hair with her new anger and sorrow mixing, it wasn’t fair how Christy could make her cry until her eyes were swollen just to stroll up and act like life was perfect. It probably was for her though, she was an extrovert and made friends super easily and her life seemed just amazing. The phone buzzed quietly from across the room but Brigitte ignored it, not in the mood to acknowledge her.

Worry overtook her anger and she crawled over to get her phone, hoping she hadn’t broken it in her fit of rage, she couldn’t afford to buy a new one right now. It ended up just being a notification saying her phone was going to automatically update and not anything else from Christy. The anger came back and she put her phone face down without replying to the text from before. 

She threw stuff everywhere and made a mess of her apartment, not caring about potential noise complaints. Feathers from pillows flew into the air and the glass from small knick knacks was littered all over the floor. She sunk to her knees not bothering to clean up anything. She stared at her hands that were slightly bloody from the flowers earlier and the glass from breaking various things. She sat and and silently cried while curling into a ball, resting her chin on her knees. It still didn’t seem fair how she was always the one to suffer but she supposed that nothing was ever fair when it came to her.


	6. I do my darling

An announcement was spoken over the speaker, ”our flight is landing please stay seated.” Christy bounced her foot and checked the time. She wondered what Brigitte was doing, she would miss her. Sighing and leaning on her hand she sat back in her seat waiting for further instruction. 

Her phone buzzed,’hey I just saw this but yeah my day has been pretty okay also love you too ;),’ he never failed to make her feel warm and fuzzy inside,’I’m getting off my flight now so I’ll let you know when I get home <3,’ she got a heart back and put her phone back in her bag. The intercom turned on again,”please make your way off the plane when it’s your turn and don’t shove or try to leave before necessary.”

When her aisle got up and left so did she. Pulling out her phone on her way to the exit of the airport she made a call, ”I’ll be out front soon so you can tell them to be ready, also let me know when my luggage is brought home.” She hung up the short call and opened the door to the exit, spotting a taxi parked by the curb. A woman with heavy makeup got out of the cab and Christy recognized her as the driver she was told was picking her up, ”can I see your identification before you get in,” Christy nodded and reached in her bag for her ID. She handed the woman the card and watched as she got in the car and checked it very carefully before looking Christy over again, ”alright get in.” 

She didn’t make out that much along the ride but the music in her earbuds. ”We’re here,” the lady spoke with a tone that Christy couldn’t tell if it was her being rude or just naturally rougher sounding. She gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment and walked up to the building in front of her, she sure didn’t miss it. In front of her was a large mansion, too large for her liking. She just shook her head and knocked on the door. While waiting for someone to open one of the grand doors she sent a quick text to Brigitte,’I got home safely :),’ she refreshed the page a few times after but there was no response. That was weird since Brigitte usually sent something back right away. She didn’t have much time to think about it before one of the large doors opened and she was pulled inside.

A butler took her coat and led her to the unreasonably large living area, ”ah Christina my dear I didn’t think you would actually come, you’ve always been quite the stubborn one about listening,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms annoyed at how he refused to use her nickname, ”what did you call me here for father,” he patted the seat next to him on the velvet couch by the crackling fireplace, ”don’t be so uptight dear,” she hesitated but slowly sat down on the opposite side of the sofa. Her father spoke again, ”your mother will be here soon and we will talk like mature adults with none of your attitude,” he had a calm voice but Christy knew that disagreeing with him would completely set him off so she just huffed and leaned back on the couch. 

She grabbed her phone and scrolled through social media before switching to her messages, Brigitte still hadn’t responded which was really strange but trying to be positive she chose to assume Brigitte broke her phone, she never really was gentle with technology or anything of the sort. 

The sound of heels clicking against the floor and echoing off the walls came from the hallway until a tall woman strolled over, ”ah Christina how lovely to see you, we have to drag you to see us nowadays, It’s almost like you don’t like us,” she said in a voice that sounded like she was trying to mock Christy. Narrowing her eyes Christy defended herself, ”well maybe it’s because you’re the biggest pricks ever, It’s almost like I don’t like you,” Christy copied the mocking voice her mother used on her. 

Her mother used crocodile tears but when she saw it didn’t work on her daughter she stopped, ”I won’t drag this out for longer than it has to be since I know you hate us even though we did nothing wrong,” Christy scoffed but let her continue, ”long story short you need to take over now that you’re an adult,” Christy tried to protest but was cut off, ”we’ve been nice and let you have some time to yourself but now you have to grow up and take over, no isn’t a valid answer because you’re going to whether you want to or not.” Christy slumped back and didn’t say anything, ”it seems like you have nothing to say the one time we allow you to talk to us like this,” Christy continued ignoring her prompting her mother to clap her hands and signal the previous butler over, ”take her to her room, she might have forgotten how to get to it since she hasn’t been here in so long,” by the expression on her face Christy’s mom knew she was getting on her nerves but kept pretending to be the one in the right when called out.

The angry tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Not wanting to be stuck in the room with her parents for any longer she let the butler lead her to her room but not before eyeing her parents with obvious disgust. She thanked the man once they were all the way up the stairs and standing outside her bedroom, ”your presence will be expected at dinner, I’ll be up to come get you when it’s ready.”

She laid down on the bed and as much as she wanted to hate being there the extra comfy bed made her almost like being there. She rolled over and felt her eyes get heavy, it was kind of a long flight so a nap would do just great right then. However before she got the chance to fully fall asleep there was a knock at her door, ”dinner is ready miss, you are requested to eat downstairs every night,” she groaned and slid onto the floor, getting up sluggishly and following the older man downstairs to her parents looking at her expectantly at the table. She was sitting down and leaning on her elbow while eating when her mother gasped like she had just murdered someone in her view, ”how did we raise you to have such horrible manners,” she smirked at the reaction she was getting out of her parents so she continued eating like that for as long as she could. 

Her elbow was yanked off the table which made her lose her balance but then her shoulders were grabbed and she was forced to sit straight up, ”do you have no shame child? That posture is absolutely horrendous,” she muttered under her breath, ”not as horrendous as you though,” her mother and father were fuming but rather calmly asked, ”is there something you would like to say?” Christy shook her head and picked at her food. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother glaring at her as passively aggressively as possible. She pushed her chair back and got up, ”I’m not hungry I ate earlier,” she didn’t give them a chance to say anything before running up the stairs and flopping face first onto her bed, making sure to lock her door so they wouldn’t bother her at all. ”It’s not fair that they get to be so terrible with no consequences,” she complained to no one.

Rolling over on her bed she opened her messages, it was now really strange since it had been almost a whole day and still no reply from Brigitte. She sent her a new text, maybe Brigitte just didn’t have to check her phone all day,’heyyyy are you awake,’ she watched her phone for any indication that the other was typing anything in response. After a few minutes of still reply she figured it’d be better to just try again later on instead of blowing up Brigitte’s phone and annoying her. 

The time read somewhere past midnight and she peeled herself off the bed to brush her teeth. The lights were too bright for her and she blinked slowly, not used to it after sitting in the darkness of her bedroom besides the light from the moon. Rubbing her eyes she slowly picked up the toothbrush. She rinsed out her mouth and stared at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t look more visibly tired in fact she looked the exact same which made her question why she felt so much more drained than usual. Although on some level she did get it since dealing with people with inflated egos could really do that to you and make you like a rung out piece of cloth. She groaned at the thought of having to spend anymore time around those people. 

She plugged her phone in and checked one more time, still no reply from Brigitte. The last thought on her mind before feeling the sleepiness set in was hoping that she Brigitte was alright since it was unlike her to not answer for an entire day.

There was a faint knocking on the door that woke her up, Christy was always quite a light sleeper and the quietest sound awoke her normally. Her eyes were bleary and fuzzy from just having woken up, ”it’s time for you to get up, miss.” She waved her hand despite no one seeing it with the door still closed, ”yeah I know,” she trailed off with her sentence after falling back asleep only to wake up again when the knocking on the door wasn’t soft anymore and was now quick sharp knocks, ”Christina you better be awake this instant,” she sat up right away at the sound of her mother’s voice. She sounded irritated that her daughter didn’t like to wake up right at sunrise, Christy thought miserably. ”You better be up and downstairs in no less than 25 minutes flat.” At that Christy rushed around, she may have a burning hatred for her parents but that didn’t mean she was dumb enough to not listen when they gave her a certain amount of time before meeting them. She shivered at the thought of being late to meet her parents, that was a nightmare waiting to happen. 

Walking down the stairs and skipping a few steps here and there she made it to the main family area, just now realizing they had never given her a place to meet them. Luckily for her it seemed they were thinking the same and were sitting in the living room waiting

. When her parents turned and saw her they wrinkled their noses with disgust, ”who dresses you, that attire is highly inappropriate and unsuitable to be wearing around. Why, if that’s what you just wear at home just imagine the filth you wear out,” Christy looked appalled, ”what do you mean inappropriate and unsuitable we’re not anywhere important so I just wore a t-shirt and jeans.” Her mother looked offended that Christy would offer the idea of wearing casual clothes even in their home, ”go change immediately I will not have you looking like a street rat while in my house,” Christy was started to get very agitated, ”if all it takes for you people to leave me alone is to wear so called rags then maybe I should do it more often,” she spat at them. Her mother had a grimace on a face but didn’t say anything more to her, she only pointed at one of the maids standing around, ”go put her in some better clothing than that terrible excuse of clothes,” the maid gave her a yes that you had to strain yourself to hear and took Christy by the arm. 

She struggled while they were walking, but still not able to stay angry at the lady since she was just doing her assigned job. However that didn’t stop her from being upset with the situation itself, ”can you believe the nerve of her? Saying I’m wearing rags, she’s such an entitled snob,” the maid didn’t say anything, probably out of fear that she would lose her job if she agreed or disagreed, and chose to rummage through the outrageously large closet instead. She set the dress down on the bed on the bed and started going through the drawers. Christy looked at the dress picked out for her, now the thing was she didn’t hate dresses or fancy clothing in the slightest and she actually enjoyed wearing it a lot but it was a different story when she was being forced to wear it when she didn’t particularly want to. The maid laid out the other extra things she picked out and swiftly left after reminding Christy to put it on. 

She grumbled while adjusting the socks, she should’ve faked her death and run away while she could. She brushed out her hair before thinking of ways she could get back at her parents without making too drastic of a decision. That’s when she got it, she knew exactly what she could easily pull to anger her parents enough without doing anything stupid. She smirked to herself and planned it out in her head while she walked down the grand staircase.

Part of her new plan she was conspiring against her parents was to just shape up and listen, the sooner they felt she was responsible to take care of the company by herself the sooner they would leave her alone and she wouldn’t have to deal with them again. She sat down on the couch and smoothed out her dress before clearing her throat, ”what is it that you want to talk about,” her parents perked up at that, ”hm it seems you’ve finally learned some respect and stopped being a brat,” she clenched her teeth and held back more remarks, ”it seems I have, now what do we need to discuss.” Her mother grinned, thinking she had won but she couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Her mother spoke with arrogance, ”I believe you remember what we spoke about last night,” Christy stayed silent,”now going over it again we have some important points to talk about such as marriage.” That shocked Christy enough to almost get a reaction out of her but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. ”what do you mean mother,” she asked with a sickly sweet tone. Her mother talked on, ”it means that since you are soon to be the head of this company and family you must be married at once, as you are with that other boy you must marry him in order to fully take over.” Christy sat there not able to comprehend what she had heard enough to make a sentence. They sat silently with no noise besides the fireplace crackling, fighting against the cold December.

”How do you even know he’ll be okay with it, huh?” her mother wasn’t phased at the more aggressive way Christy voiced her concern, ”we have talked to him already and he agreed, you have eight months before you two are to be married.” Christy flipped out, she was okay at keeping her cool but for her parents to agree for her to get married behind her back without even letting her decide was the final straw. She stood up and pointed at finger at them accusingly, ” how could you do this to me, this is so sudden and it just came out of nowhere it’s not fair that I have to throw my life away because of guys,” she paced anxiously, she knew one day she would have to take over and get married but she didn’t think it would be this sudden and without her okay.

Her mother stayed quiet and her father filled the silence, ”I don’t like your tone of voice, this isn’t up for discussion you will get married and take over. We will not have a daughter take over who isn’t wed already,” Christy calmed down a bit and stared them down, ”you’re terrible, I wish I didn’t have to be associated with you guys,” her mother snickered at her, ”well you don’t have to like us, you just have to respect us and take over like you’re supposed to.” Her mother sent a disappointed glance at her, ”stop throwing a tantrum like a child and act like the adult you are,” Christy stood in place crossing her arms ignoring them, ”it doesn’t make a difference if you hate us, you will still attend etiquette classes and dress like a proper young lady.” 

Christy had enough and stormed off to find the library. She felt like breaking down and crying once she sat down in one of the leather chairs, how could they put all of this pressure on her suddenly after ripping away her happy quaint little life. She felt like screaming on top of the crying and breaking down, sure maybe she could potentially handle taking over but being married without her permission? She liked her boyfriend but she wasn’t in love with him and never would be especially after he agreed to her parents terms without asking her. She looked down at the fancy dress and lace socks she was wearing before looking around at the extravagant library with an extra tall ceiling engraved with patterns in the wood; she didn’t want any of this ever; she just wanted a small apartment and a boring plain life with no rich people and their large parties and ballrooms or silk clothes and prim and proper way of speaking. 

It could only become more miserable for her from there.

She teared up at that, she didn’t want to be miserable with these people she didn’t even feel like she knew. How could they even call themselves her mom and dad while they treated her like someone who was just their to run their own dumb company for them. She didn’t know why she had come to the library, perhaps for a change of scenery it certainly wasn’t to read since she wasn’t in the mood. She took out her phone from the pants she put under the dress in case she wanted to take it off. Pulling up her messages she didn’t see anything from Brigitte still, feeling a bit unnerved at that she pressed the call button and put it up to her ear. It started ringing but ended with the ‘this person has not set up their voicemail’ line. She was sure Brigitte was okay, she was just overreacting, she had to be.

Her phone buzzed at that moment but to her disappointment it was only her boyfriend who she was very annoyed with. She read the message he sent,’how’s your day :^),’ she didn’t feel like talking to him but didn’t want to be rude,’fine.’ She watched as the three typing dots appeared and she waited for him to finish,’that’s good,’ she decided to drop the bomb,’so why did you agree to my parents telling you to marry me without asking first, which I don't agree with,’ ‘you don’t want to get married or.. ?’ her irritation shot through the roof at him dancing around the question,’why did you agree to marry me without asking me if I was okay with it first?’ The three dots showed up again but disappeared before sending anything. She scoffed, how could he agree to something like that when he didn’t even have the guts to explain why to her.

She tossed her phone, not caring what happened to it.

Tears raced down her cheeks, she didn’t want to end up with anymore but it was clear that she didn’t have a choice. She knew that if she broke it off with him her parents would just pick a random guy for her and she’d rather at least have someone she knew was an okay person for the most part. 

However her tears weren’t purely from the situation around her, they also came from the worry of Brigitte not saying anything to her for two days straight eating away at her. She wished there was a way she could know how the other was doing and if she was alright. Brigitte was quite the introvert and antisocial person so yeah you could argue it was just an overreaction but she had a gut feeling it wasn’t that simple. Besides her and Brigitte had been friends for about three to four months so it would be pretty unlikely that she’d just ignore the messages. 

There was no point in stressing over it, all it did was make her think of horrible things that could’ve happened in her head. She opted to take a peek at some of the books in the library, eventually recognizing one of the titles. She carefully picked it out so she didn’t make a bunch of books fall. It felt surreal seeing a book she knew, a book that she had read with Brigitte on one of their midnight coffee hangouts. She traced the letters on the front with the finger, sounding out each word like they would crumble if she said them too harshly. She landed in the chair with an ‘oof.’ The wooden floor creaked under her while she shifted in it, trying to get into a comfortable position to read. The book clearly hadn’t been touched much, if at all because the smell of crisp new pages. She flipped it to the first page. She was all too familiar with the plot of the book, it was one of the ones she would go back to every time they visited that bookstore. She read out loud to herself but not loud enough to draw attention. 

As she reached the main conflict of the book she felt a strong wave of nostalgia wash over her, this was always the part she was at when she ran out of her hot drink in the small cafe section of the bookstore. A part of her wished she could go back in time to warn herself to fake her death to get away from her horrid family. Stupid rich people was all she muster up when it came to them. Well sooner or later she would have to accept her place in that stupid family of rich people, she let out a sad slight chuckle at that. 

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“Mother, do I have to wear something like this, it’s just ridiculous at this point I mean we’re not living in the victorian era or something,” the woman in question rolled her eyes, ”yes you can’t dress like a slob,” Christy eyed her with annoyance. That seemed to be one of the main things she felt recently.” She started complaining again, ”but it’s not even cold outside anymore, I’m going to sweat to death in this,” her mother looked right into her eyes with an attitude that told her to shut up, ”Christina if you don’t stop whining I will make it even worse and trust me I can,” Christy huffed purposely loud. 

Her mother pointed at someone walking towards them, ”here she comes now, be on your best behavior and don’t whine or complain.” An older woman stopped in front of them before introducing herself, ”hello, my name is Mrs.Clybourn and you may refer to me as much,” she held her hand out. Christy gave the woman a hesitant handshake, ”I’m Christy,” her mother lightly smacked her shoulder, ”that’s not your name Christina,” once again Christy introduced herself as just Christy. Her mother being fed up with her answers chose to answer for her, ”her name is Christina that’s the only name she should be called. Christy reminded herself to tell the woman to just hall her Christy when her mother wasn’t around. 

Her mother’s voice started her out of whatever she was thinking about, ”well you two should be on your way, I expect you to do a fine job of teaching her better etiquette, ” she gave the woman a pointed stare, ”yes of course ma’am she’ll be perfect in no time at all.” Satisfied with the answer Christy’s mother left them alone.

“You can just call me Christy, Mrs.Wyborn,” the woman fixed the way her glasses fit on her face, ”it’s Mrs.Clybourn not Wyborn dear.” Christy ignored the woman and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, ”So what do you have in mind,” Mrs.Clybourn seemed scandalized at the casual gesture. She pushed Christy’s arm off of her shoulders, ”that’s highly inappropriate for a woman such as yourself,” Christy raised her eyebrows, ”dude it’s not like it’s the nineteenth century, you guys have to calm down with the stupidly fancy clothes and “proper etiquette”,” she made quotations with her fingers. Nevertheless Mrs.Clybourn shook her head and sighed, ”we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“This is so dumb why do we have to do this, I’m not taking over a kingdom or something it’s just a company,” Mrs.Clybourn stared at her with a blank expression on her face, ”just a company? That’s a huge deal,” Christy picked at the loose thread on her dress, ”eh maybe for other people but not me.” She felt Mrs.Clybourn’s eyes stare a hole into her as she tried to explain how important taking over a company this large is. They made eye contact and it turned pretty awkward until they moved onto the next topic, ”another thing your mother asked me to help you with is dealing with press conferences.” Christy cringed at the idea of attending a press conference, that had her second guessing not running away and starting a new life in a random country. Mrs.Clybourn began reading off of one of the sheets of paper she was holding.

Christy leaned on her elbow and zoned out, not interested in the slightest. She imagined herself at a press conference talking about serious things, now that would be a sight to see. Christy not treating life as one big joke would be the day pigs fly. She imagined seeing Brigitte. Wait, Brigitte! The woman totally slipped her mind, how would she evcen react to knowing her so called average middle class friend held an important conference. Guilt formed and burrowed itself into her mind, Brigitte would feel so betrayed if she found out the one person she thought was being completely transparent was lying about something this important. Who could blame her for though? Most people only stayed when they heard money and status so it felt refreshing for someone to not know.

“Christina, are you paying attention?” That made her jump out of her skin, ”huh what yeah,” it was clear she wasn’t giving Mrs.Clybourn the slightest amount of attention. She saw how the woman laid back in her chair, wrinkles appearing with the look of distaste on her face, ”Christina, how much do I have to remind you that this is very important knowledge for you to know.” The use of her full name felt wrong to hear, she wouldn’t be able to get used to that anytime soon. She was only aware that she had zoned out again when she heard fingers snapping at her, ”Christina dear I need you to pay attention, we don’t need to make this harder than it has to be.” 

It felt useless to argue and so instead of fighting any longer she thought about just accepting her role, it was her life now no matter how much she hated it. That thought quickly went away though, she wouldn’t let go of her hope, the smarter option was just to listen. After all, the flowers that take the longest to bloom end up the prettiest.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She recited the words told to her, ”very good Christina, you’re a fast learner when you put your mind to it,” Mrs.Clybourn flashed her a small smile. She accepted the compliment, not wanting to waste any time with small talk. The grudge she held against her full name was disappearing a bit, she supposed she just wasn’t used to it that’s all. She cleared her throat and moved onto repeating the next example sentence to her. 

The current lesson they were having was on how to talk to other people of important families and etc. It was pretty boring because it was just her having fake conversations and being in practice situations. No matter how boring it was though it did actually help her see which words were better to use when talking to people who have very high reputations and are just all around very crucial to the business market her family was in. There were a lot of words she used out of habit that she found herself not really using after they worked on it more. 

It hadn’t been that long since she had arrived, only maybe three or four months and yet she felt like a completely different person. There was a lot she had changed about herself to make herself more approachable and yet she hadn’t realized at all.

She wondered if Brigitte would ever recognize her now, what would she even think of her now? Based on the type of personality Brigitte has she would guess the woman would be put off by this different version of herself. That just made her wonder more though, did Brigitte forget about her yet, did she find someone new yet? The thought of Brigitte finding someone new and holding them close like her made her ache for some reason. 

It was strange, thinking about Brigitte moving onto someone new and forgetting about her made her feel a sense of sadness and aching, that was normal though right? Any normal friend would be upset about being left behind. Somehow that still didn’t feel right. However it had to be correct since they were just close friends and it had to be normal to feel like that when drifting away from someone you care about a lot. 

If, no actually, when she went back would Brigitte still have any interest in being her friend? She told her she was taking care of her sick mother and she knew that Brigitte would have her doubts about it. Those doubts did seem reasonable though since not many people would pack up and leave their life behind to take care of their mother. Yeah you could argue lots of people care about their moms but enough to just leave everything behind? It didn’t seem very believable the more she looked back on it but it was she could think of, she was never the best at lying to begin with.

A hand lightly tapped her on the shoulder, ”you've been working hard so I thought we could take a short break,” when Christy nodded a cup of tea was placed in front of her. A look of disgust made its way onto her face but she put her poker face back on as soon as she noticed. Tea always disgusted her, it just tasted like hot water with leaves in it but she knew she couldn’t ask for something like hot chocolate in exchange since it was considered,”unprofessional,” whatever that meant. It was bitter and gross but she took little skips occasionally, making sure to mention how she wasn’t thirsty to try and get out of drinking it. That excuse never really worked though since her poker face was never as good as she believed it was, her mother and etiquette teacher always saw through it.

She pushed the tea away from her on the table and in her mind and chose to look for a book to read while she used her short break. 

She was running out of books to read since they were all she used for entertainment. She would say she could use her phone but that was taken away since it was, ”not of use for you since you have no one to contact on it anyways.” She tried to make the excuse that she needed to text her fiance, the word made her gag since she still wasn’t on board with it but it was what it was, but her mother just stated that if it was urgent or important he could tell her in person. 

When she read stories like Rapunzel she never quite understood how the main character felt until now. She felt the same trapped controllingness as awful as that sounded. She wanted her space but that was an argument she would never win and she’d rather not start it since it only ended up being used against her in the long run.

Sometimes when she read different romance books from their library they had details that made her feel warm and fuzzy like the night her and Brigitte danced in the rain. It had been months and months since that night but she could swear she could still feel the drops coming down and hitting her while they twirled around and laughed. More nostalgia mixed with her sad feelings of being trapped. That night and all the ones leading up to before she left she felt like a bird that finally learned how to use its wings and was flying everywhere until it got struck down and landed on the ground with broken wings but no one around to help fix them so they could fly again. Sometimes when it got extra lonely she replayed her old conversations with Brigitte and acted out their interactions except it was her playing both parts. 

“Christina darling it’s time for lunch, you will continue your lesson after eating,” she nodded and got up to follow her mother into the dining room. There were stupidly expensive pieces of artwork scattered along the walls of the hallway they walked. Some were abstract colors flying all over the canvas and other were portraits of people she didn’t even know. She really felt like it was pointless to have art on your walls if it was just there because it cost a lot of money but her parents felt differently apparently.

When they sat down the food was the same or almost the same as always, never home cooked since her parents said they had better things to do than cook when they had people they hired to do it. One of the foods was tomato soup, it was mildly warm and extra runny. The soup tasted bland but since her parents and family never ate homemade food she guessed it tasted great to them. Next to the soup was a bowl of pasta with sauces laid out on the table. She was thankful that her parents were at least smart enough to not eat grossly bland pasta. That didn’t mean it tasted the best however. The flavor of the food they ate tasted like the chefs were trying too hard to make it fancy and extravagant but in reality it was just gross. Now she was no food critic but she could tell when food didn’t taste like it should.

She glanced up to see her parents staring at her, of course how could she have forgotten that her parents insisted on saying grace before each meal. She bowed her head but tuned out what her parents were saying, choosing to make up different endings to book from earlier instead. She peeked up and saw they had started eating and so she followed suit. The food was cold but it didn’t really bother her since she was used to it when she ate by herself at home.

Once she was done eating she excused herself from the table before anyone could protest and went to the garden in their backyard. She stopped in front of the roses and pulled a flower off. She plucked the petals off and they surrounded her where she sat. She felt like there was a joke somewhere in that sentence. 

She started humming to herself, it was a lullaby she had heard somewhere before, she couldn’t remember where though. 

She laid in the grass and stared at the clouds, she wasn’t worried about being lectured since this was her own spot she kept hidden. She wondered what it was like to be a cloud, so free to just exist with no expectations or pressure. It seemed like a nice concept, she could bet the clouds didn’t have an ongoing crisis with its parents since it didn’t have any. She wasn’t really sure if having no parents was worse than having her parents. She had tried everything to get their attention and to get them to be kinder but at the end of the day they were the same selfish people. She almost wished they would come looking for her and ask what was wrong but unless it had to do with them in a way that would negatively affect them then they wouldn’t care.

She connected the shapes of the clouds to different things as they passed.

No matter how long she waited to hear someone come calling her name and tell her to come back inside no one ever came. It hurt her but she didn’t expect anything else from them. She stayed and laid in the grass a while longer, it was cool and there was a slight breeze to fight against the warmth from the sun. She closed her eyes and thought of all the things she could be doing if she didn’t have to come home. Maybe her and Brigitte would find some more books to read to each other and different drinks off the menu to try. Maybe they would go to a painting class together and paint the clouds Christy had all around her at the moment. Maybe if she had a sibling she wouldn’t be stuck in what feels like a limbo. A part of her however didn’t want a sibling since she wouldn’t wish this sad lonely life on anyone no matter how nice it appeared when the money was included in the equation of her life. 

At some point she must have drifted off in the garden because when she opened her eyes there were stars in the sky and the moon replaced the sun. Her disappointment grew when she realized it must have been hours and still no one came to get her. She pushed herself up slowly and dusted off her shirt, looking at the moon as she spoke, ”how do you glow so bright even when it gets lonely up there?”  
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“Hold still,” the woman wrapped the tape measure around Christy's waist. She held her arms up awkwardly while the tall woman took her measurements. A little while had passed and she was in the clear to leave. ”So Christina what type of dress do you fancy,” she looked at her mother strangely, ”I haven’t heard anyone use that word like that in so long, jeez you have the vocabulary of a woman from the nineteenth century, ” her mother rolled her eyes and pushed the dresses apart to look through all the options. She held up a dress with a tight bodice and long train of fabric at the back. It had lace and simple embellishments with sleeves that got wider from the elbow down. ”Yeah it’s perfect,” she spoke trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, not wanting to have to try and pick out a dress all day. Her mother took it as a yes and held onto it. “What about this veil, I think it would look lovely on you,” Christy nodded and her mother picked it up and held onto the veil too.

She had tried to push back the date she had to get a dress but seeing as it was only two months before the wedding, Christy felt sick at the thought of it, she was forced to go. She knew it wouldn’t be too long now until the dress would be fitted for her and she would be forced to live this life she didn’t want to. She dearly missed Brigitte and would give anything to leave her life in her family company behind. She had tried so hard to get used to this new life but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t, she just wasn’t meant to live out a life like this. She was meant to live out a small cozy life not one that’s empty and about as much fun as watching paint dry. She hated that she was stuck and that there was nothing she could do to get out of it but unfortunately that’s how life was for her, unfair.

She thought about her false sense of freedom that those few years away from her family gave her. She didn’t want to live out this dumb vision her parents had for her but because their family was of such importance she didn’t have any room to argue taking over. If she had known that flying back home would land her in a life like this she would have never even answered the phone. 

She didn’t have any more time to continue her angry inner monologue though since she was already being dragged to a different area of the boutique by her mother.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I do,” he spoke after saying his vows. Christy felt multiple pairs of eyes glaring, burning holes into her like a warning to seal the vows and to not object. She hesitantly looked up at him, just a few months ago she would have agreed to get married but now that she was actually standing waiting to be wed she didn’t want to be. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, ”I,” she thought about what she was going to say next with a lot of care, ”I..,” she whispered the next words with tears in her eyes, ”I’m sorry.”

That was all he caught before a flash of white ran down the aisle and out of the church doors.


	7. Motels and little sisters

An announcement was spoken over the speaker, ”our flight is landing please stay seated.” Christy bounced her foot and checked the time. She wondered what Brigitte was doing, she would miss her. Sighing and leaning on her hand she sat back in her seat waiting for further instruction. 

Her phone buzzed,’hey I just saw this but yeah my day has been pretty okay also love you too ;),’ he never failed to make her feel warm and fuzzy inside,’I’m getting off my flight now so I’ll let you know when I get home <3,’ she got a heart back and put her phone back in her bag. The intercom turned on again,”please make your way off the plane when it’s your turn and don’t shove or try to leave before necessary.”

When her aisle got up and left so did she. Pulling out her phone on her way to the exit of the airport she made a call, ”I’ll be out front soon so you can tell them to be ready, also let me know when my luggage is brought home.” She hung up the short call and opened the door to the exit, spotting a taxi parked by the curb. A woman with heavy makeup got out of the cab and Christy recognized her as the driver she was told was picking her up, ”can I see your identification before you get in,” Christy nodded and reached in her bag for her ID. She handed the woman the card and watched as she got in the car and checked it very carefully before looking Christy over again, ”alright get in.” 

She didn’t make out that much along the ride but the music in her earbuds. ”We’re here,” the lady spoke with a tone that Christy couldn’t tell if it was her being rude or just naturally rougher sounding. She gave a quiet hum of acknowledgment and walked up to the building in front of her, she sure didn’t miss it. In front of her was a large mansion, too large for her liking. She just shook her head and knocked on the door. While waiting for someone to open one of the grand doors she sent a quick text to Brigitte,’I got home safely :),’ she refreshed the page a few times after but there was no response. That was weird since Brigitte usually sent something back right away. She didn’t have much time to think about it before one of the large doors opened and she was pulled inside.

A butler took her coat and led her to the unreasonably large living area, ”ah Christina my dear I didn’t think you would actually come, you’ve always been quite the stubborn one about listening,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms annoyed at how he refused to use her nickname, ”what did you call me here for father,” he patted the seat next to him on the velvet couch by the crackling fireplace, ”don’t be so uptight dear,” she hesitated but slowly sat down on the opposite side of the sofa. Her father spoke again, ”your mother will be here soon and we will talk like mature adults with none of your attitude,” he had a calm voice but Christy knew that disagreeing with him would completely set him off so she just huffed and leaned back on the couch. 

She grabbed her phone and scrolled through social media before switching to her messages, Brigitte still hadn’t responded which was really strange but trying to be positive she chose to assume Brigitte broke her phone, she never really was gentle with technology or anything of the sort. 

The sound of heels clicking against the floor and echoing off the walls came from the hallway until a tall woman strolled over, ”ah Christina how lovely to see you, we have to drag you to see us nowadays, It’s almost like you don’t like us,” she said in a voice that sounded like she was trying to mock Christy. Narrowing her eyes Christy defended herself, ”well maybe it’s because you’re the biggest pricks ever, It’s almost like I don’t like you,” Christy copied the mocking voice her mother used on her. 

Her mother used crocodile tears but when she saw it didn’t work on her daughter she stopped, ”I won’t drag this out for longer than it has to be since I know you hate us even though we did nothing wrong,” Christy scoffed but let her continue, ”long story short you need to take over now that you’re an adult,” Christy tried to protest but was cut off, ”we’ve been nice and let you have some time to yourself but now you have to grow up and take over, no isn’t a valid answer because you’re going to whether you want to or not.” Christy slumped back and didn’t say anything, ”it seems like you have nothing to say the one time we allow you to talk to us like this,” Christy continued ignoring her prompting her mother to clap her hands and signal the previous butler over, ”take her to her room, she might have forgotten how to get to it since she hasn’t been here in so long,” by the expression on her face Christy’s mom knew she was getting on her nerves but kept pretending to be the one in the right when called out.

The angry tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Not wanting to be stuck in the room with her parents for any longer she let the butler lead her to her room but not before eyeing her parents with obvious disgust. She thanked the man once they were all the way up the stairs and standing outside her bedroom, ”your presence will be expected at dinner, I’ll be up to come get you when it’s ready.”

She laid down on the bed and as much as she wanted to hate being there the extra comfy bed made her almost like being there. She rolled over and felt her eyes get heavy, it was kind of a long flight so a nap would do just great right then. However before she got the chance to fully fall asleep there was a knock at her door, ”dinner is ready miss, you are requested to eat downstairs every night,” she groaned and slid onto the floor, getting up sluggishly and following the older man downstairs to her parents looking at her expectantly at the table. She was sitting down and leaning on her elbow while eating when her mother gasped like she had just murdered someone in her view, ”how did we raise you to have such horrible manners,” she smirked at the reaction she was getting out of her parents so she continued eating like that for as long as she could. 

Her elbow was yanked off the table which made her lose her balance but then her shoulders were grabbed and she was forced to sit straight up, ”do you have no shame child? That posture is absolutely horrendous,” she muttered under her breath, ”not as horrendous as you though,” her mother and father were fuming but rather calmly asked, ”is there something you would like to say?” Christy shook her head and picked at her food. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother glaring at her as passively aggressively as possible. She pushed her chair back and got up, ”I’m not hungry I ate earlier,” she didn’t give them a chance to say anything before running up the stairs and flopping face first onto her bed, making sure to lock her door so they wouldn’t bother her at all. ”It’s not fair that they get to be so terrible with no consequences,” she complained to no one.

Rolling over on her bed she opened her messages, it was now really strange since it had been almost a whole day and still no reply from Brigitte. She sent her a new text, maybe Brigitte just didn’t have to check her phone all day,’heyyyy are you awake,’ she watched her phone for any indication that the other was typing anything in response. After a few minutes of still reply she figured it’d be better to just try again later on instead of blowing up Brigitte’s phone and annoying her. 

The time read somewhere past midnight and she peeled herself off the bed to brush her teeth. The lights were too bright for her and she blinked slowly, not used to it after sitting in the darkness of her bedroom besides the light from the moon. Rubbing her eyes she slowly picked up the toothbrush. She rinsed out her mouth and stared at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t look more visibly tired in fact she looked the exact same which made her question why she felt so much more drained than usual. Although on some level she did get it since dealing with people with inflated egos could really do that to you and make you like a rung out piece of cloth. She groaned at the thought of having to spend anymore time around those people. 

She plugged her phone in and checked one more time, still no reply from Brigitte. The last thought on her mind before feeling the sleepiness set in was hoping that she Brigitte was alright since it was unlike her to not answer for an entire day.

There was a faint knocking on the door that woke her up, Christy was always quite a light sleeper and the quietest sound awoke her normally. Her eyes were bleary and fuzzy from just having woken up, ”it’s time for you to get up, miss.” She waved her hand despite no one seeing it with the door still closed, ”yeah I know,” she trailed off with her sentence after falling back asleep only to wake up again when the knocking on the door wasn’t soft anymore and was now quick sharp knocks, ”Christina you better be awake this instant,” she sat up right away at the sound of her mother’s voice. She sounded irritated that her daughter didn’t like to wake up right at sunrise, Christy thought miserably. ”You better be up and downstairs in no less than 25 minutes flat.” At that Christy rushed around, she may have a burning hatred for her parents but that didn’t mean she was dumb enough to not listen when they gave her a certain amount of time before meeting them. She shivered at the thought of being late to meet her parents, that was a nightmare waiting to happen. 

Walking down the stairs and skipping a few steps here and there she made it to the main family area, just now realizing they had never given her a place to meet them. Luckily for her it seemed they were thinking the same and were sitting in the living room waiting

. When her parents turned and saw her they wrinkled their noses with disgust, ”who dresses you, that attire is highly inappropriate and unsuitable to be wearing around. Why, if that’s what you just wear at home just imagine the filth you wear out,” Christy looked appalled, ”what do you mean inappropriate and unsuitable we’re not anywhere important so I just wore a t-shirt and jeans.” Her mother looked offended that Christy would offer the idea of wearing casual clothes even in their home, ”go change immediately I will not have you looking like a street rat while in my house,” Christy was started to get very agitated, ”if all it takes for you people to leave me alone is to wear so called rags then maybe I should do it more often,” she spat at them. Her mother had a grimace on a face but didn’t say anything more to her, she only pointed at one of the maids standing around, ”go put her in some better clothing than that terrible excuse of clothes,” the maid gave her a yes that you had to strain yourself to hear and took Christy by the arm. 

She struggled while they were walking, but still not able to stay angry at the lady since she was just doing her assigned job. However that didn’t stop her from being upset with the situation itself, ”can you believe the nerve of her? Saying I’m wearing rags, she’s such an entitled snob,” the maid didn’t say anything, probably out of fear that she would lose her job if she agreed or disagreed, and chose to rummage through the outrageously large closet instead. She set the dress down on the bed on the bed and started going through the drawers. Christy looked at the dress picked out for her, now the thing was she didn’t hate dresses or fancy clothing in the slightest and she actually enjoyed wearing it a lot but it was a different story when she was being forced to wear it when she didn’t particularly want to. The maid laid out the other extra things she picked out and swiftly left after reminding Christy to put it on. 

She grumbled while adjusting the socks, she should’ve faked her death and run away while she could. She brushed out her hair before thinking of ways she could get back at her parents without making too drastic of a decision. That’s when she got it, she knew exactly what she could easily pull to anger her parents enough without doing anything stupid. She smirked to herself and planned it out in her head while she walked down the grand staircase.

Part of her new plan she was conspiring against her parents was to just shape up and listen, the sooner they felt she was responsible to take care of the company by herself the sooner they would leave her alone and she wouldn’t have to deal with them again. She sat down on the couch and smoothed out her dress before clearing her throat, ”what is it that you want to talk about,” her parents perked up at that, ”hm it seems you’ve finally learned some respect and stopped being a brat,” she clenched her teeth and held back more remarks, ”it seems I have, now what do we need to discuss.” Her mother grinned, thinking she had won but she couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Her mother spoke with arrogance, ”I believe you remember what we spoke about last night,” Christy stayed silent,”now going over it again we have some important points to talk about such as marriage.” That shocked Christy enough to almost get a reaction out of her but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. ”what do you mean mother,” she asked with a sickly sweet tone. Her mother talked on, ”it means that since you are soon to be the head of this company and family you must be married at once, as you are with that other boy you must marry him in order to fully take over.” Christy sat there not able to comprehend what she had heard enough to make a sentence. They sat silently with no noise besides the fireplace crackling, fighting against the cold December.

”How do you even know he’ll be okay with it, huh?” her mother wasn’t phased at the more aggressive way Christy voiced her concern, ”we have talked to him already and he agreed, you have eight months before you two are to be married.” Christy flipped out, she was okay at keeping her cool but for her parents to agree for her to get married behind her back without even letting her decide was the final straw. She stood up and pointed at finger at them accusingly, ” how could you do this to me, this is so sudden and it just came out of nowhere it’s not fair that I have to throw my life away because of guys,” she paced anxiously, she knew one day she would have to take over and get married but she didn’t think it would be this sudden and without her okay.

Her mother stayed quiet and her father filled the silence, ”I don’t like your tone of voice, this isn’t up for discussion you will get married and take over. We will not have a daughter take over who isn’t wed already,” Christy calmed down a bit and stared them down, ”you’re terrible, I wish I didn’t have to be associated with you guys,” her mother snickered at her, ”well you don’t have to like us, you just have to respect us and take over like you’re supposed to.” Her mother sent a disappointed glance at her, ”stop throwing a tantrum like a child and act like the adult you are,” Christy stood in place crossing her arms ignoring them, ”it doesn’t make a difference if you hate us, you will still attend etiquette classes and dress like a proper young lady.” 

Christy had enough and stormed off to find the library. She felt like breaking down and crying once she sat down in one of the leather chairs, how could they put all of this pressure on her suddenly after ripping away her happy quaint little life. She felt like screaming on top of the crying and breaking down, sure maybe she could potentially handle taking over but being married without her permission? She liked her boyfriend but she wasn’t in love with him and never would be especially after he agreed to her parents terms without asking her. She looked down at the fancy dress and lace socks she was wearing before looking around at the extravagant library with an extra tall ceiling engraved with patterns in the wood; she didn’t want any of this ever; she just wanted a small apartment and a boring plain life with no rich people and their large parties and ballrooms or silk clothes and prim and proper way of speaking. 

It could only become more miserable for her from there.

She teared up at that, she didn’t want to be miserable with these people she didn’t even feel like she knew. How could they even call themselves her mom and dad while they treated her like someone who was just their to run their own dumb company for them. She didn’t know why she had come to the library, perhaps for a change of scenery it certainly wasn’t to read since she wasn’t in the mood. She took out her phone from the pants she put under the dress in case she wanted to take it off. Pulling up her messages she didn’t see anything from Brigitte still, feeling a bit unnerved at that she pressed the call button and put it up to her ear. It started ringing but ended with the ‘this person has not set up their voicemail’ line. She was sure Brigitte was okay, she was just overreacting, she had to be.

Her phone buzzed at that moment but to her disappointment it was only her boyfriend who she was very annoyed with. She read the message he sent,’how’s your day :^),’ she didn’t feel like talking to him but didn’t want to be rude,’fine.’ She watched as the three typing dots appeared and she waited for him to finish,’that’s good,’ she decided to drop the bomb,’so why did you agree to my parents telling you to marry me without asking first, which I don't agree with,’ ‘you don’t want to get married or.. ?’ her irritation shot through the roof at him dancing around the question,’why did you agree to marry me without asking me if I was okay with it first?’ The three dots showed up again but disappeared before sending anything. She scoffed, how could he agree to something like that when he didn’t even have the guts to explain why to her.

She tossed her phone, not caring what happened to it.

Tears raced down her cheeks, she didn’t want to end up with anymore but it was clear that she didn’t have a choice. She knew that if she broke it off with him her parents would just pick a random guy for her and she’d rather at least have someone she knew was an okay person for the most part. 

However her tears weren’t purely from the situation around her, they also came from the worry of Brigitte not saying anything to her for two days straight eating away at her. She wished there was a way she could know how the other was doing and if she was alright. Brigitte was quite the introvert and antisocial person so yeah you could argue it was just an overreaction but she had a gut feeling it wasn’t that simple. Besides her and Brigitte had been friends for about three to four months so it would be pretty unlikely that she’d just ignore the messages. 

There was no point in stressing over it, all it did was make her think of horrible things that could’ve happened in her head. She opted to take a peek at some of the books in the library, eventually recognizing one of the titles. She carefully picked it out so she didn’t make a bunch of books fall. It felt surreal seeing a book she knew, a book that she had read with Brigitte on one of their midnight coffee hangouts. She traced the letters on the front with the finger, sounding out each word like they would crumble if she said them too harshly. She landed in the chair with an ‘oof.’ The wooden floor creaked under her while she shifted in it, trying to get into a comfortable position to read. The book clearly hadn’t been touched much, if at all because the smell of crisp new pages. She flipped it to the first page. She was all too familiar with the plot of the book, it was one of the ones she would go back to every time they visited that bookstore. She read out loud to herself but not loud enough to draw attention. 

As she reached the main conflict of the book she felt a strong wave of nostalgia wash over her, this was always the part she was at when she ran out of her hot drink in the small cafe section of the bookstore. A part of her wished she could go back in time to warn herself to fake her death to get away from her horrid family. Stupid rich people was all she muster up when it came to them. Well sooner or later she would have to accept her place in that stupid family of rich people, she let out a sad slight chuckle at that. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mother, do I have to wear something like this, it’s just ridiculous at this point I mean we’re not living in the victorian era or something,” the woman in question rolled her eyes, ”yes you can’t dress like a slob,” Christy eyed her with annoyance. That seemed to be one of the main things she felt recently.” She started complaining again, ”but it’s not even cold outside anymore, I’m going to sweat to death in this,” her mother looked right into her eyes with an attitude that told her to shut up, ”Christina if you don’t stop whining I will make it even worse and trust me I can,” Christy huffed purposely loud. 

Her mother pointed at someone walking towards them, ”here she comes now, be on your best behavior and don’t whine or complain.” An older woman stopped in front of them before introducing herself, ”hello, my name is Mrs.Clybourn and you may refer to me as much,” she held her hand out. Christy gave the woman a hesitant handshake, ”I’m Christy,” her mother lightly smacked her shoulder, ”that’s not your name Christina,” once again Christy introduced herself as just Christy. Her mother being fed up with her answers chose to answer for her, ”her name is Christina that’s the only name she should be called. Christy reminded herself to tell the woman to just hall her Christy when her mother wasn’t around. 

Her mother’s voice started her out of whatever she was thinking about, ”well you two should be on your way, I expect you to do a fine job of teaching her better etiquette, ” she gave the woman a pointed stare, ”yes of course ma’am she’ll be perfect in no time at all.” Satisfied with the answer Christy’s mother left them alone.

“You can just call me Christy, Mrs.Wyborn,” the woman fixed the way her glasses fit on her face, ”it’s Mrs.Clybourn not Wyborn dear.” Christy ignored the woman and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, ”So what do you have in mind,” Mrs.Clybourn seemed scandalized at the casual gesture. She pushed Christy’s arm off of her shoulders, ”that’s highly inappropriate for a woman such as yourself,” Christy raised her eyebrows, ”dude it’s not like it’s the nineteenth century, you guys have to calm down with the stupidly fancy clothes and “proper etiquette”,” she made quotations with her fingers. Nevertheless Mrs.Clybourn shook her head and sighed, ”we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“This is so dumb why do we have to do this, I’m not taking over a kingdom or something it’s just a company,” Mrs.Clybourn stared at her with a blank expression on her face, ”just a company? That’s a huge deal,” Christy picked at the loose thread on her dress, ”eh maybe for other people but not me.” She felt Mrs.Clybourn’s eyes stare a hole into her as she tried to explain how important taking over a company this large is. They made eye contact and it turned pretty awkward until they moved onto the next topic, ”another thing your mother asked me to help you with is dealing with press conferences.” Christy cringed at the idea of attending a press conference, that had her second guessing not running away and starting a new life in a random country. Mrs.Clybourn began reading off of one of the sheets of paper she was holding.

Christy leaned on her elbow and zoned out, not interested in the slightest. She imagined herself at a press conference talking about serious things, now that would be a sight to see. Christy not treating life as one big joke would be the day pigs fly. She imagined seeing Brigitte. Wait, Brigitte! The woman totally slipped her mind, how would she evcen react to knowing her so called average middle class friend held an important conference. Guilt formed and burrowed itself into her mind, Brigitte would feel so betrayed if she found out the one person she thought was being completely transparent was lying about something this important. Who could blame her for though? Most people only stayed when they heard money and status so it felt refreshing for someone to not know.

“Christina, are you paying attention?” That made her jump out of her skin, ”huh what yeah,” it was clear she wasn’t giving Mrs.Clybourn the slightest amount of attention. She saw how the woman laid back in her chair, wrinkles appearing with the look of distaste on her face, ”Christina, how much do I have to remind you that this is very important knowledge for you to know.” The use of her full name felt wrong to hear, she wouldn’t be able to get used to that anytime soon. She was only aware that she had zoned out again when she heard fingers snapping at her, ”Christina dear I need you to pay attention, we don’t need to make this harder than it has to be.” 

It felt useless to argue and so instead of fighting any longer she thought about just accepting her role, it was her life now no matter how much she hated it. That thought quickly went away though, she wouldn’t let go of her hope, the smarter option was just to listen. After all, the flowers that take the longest to bloom end up the prettiest.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She recited the words told to her, ”very good Christina, you’re a fast learner when you put your mind to it,” Mrs.Clybourn flashed her a small smile. She accepted the compliment, not wanting to waste any time with small talk. The grudge she held against her full name was disappearing a bit, she supposed she just wasn’t used to it that’s all. She cleared her throat and moved onto repeating the next example sentence to her. 

The current lesson they were having was on how to talk to other people of important families and etc. It was pretty boring because it was just her having fake conversations and being in practice situations. No matter how boring it was though it did actually help her see which words were better to use when talking to people who have very high reputations and are just all around very crucial to the business market her family was in. There were a lot of words she used out of habit that she found herself not really using after they worked on it more. 

It hadn’t been that long since she had arrived, only maybe three or four months and yet she felt like a completely different person. There was a lot she had changed about herself to make herself more approachable and yet she hadn’t realized at all.

She wondered if Brigitte would ever recognize her now, what would she even think of her now? Based on the type of personality Brigitte has she would guess the woman would be put off by this different version of herself. That just made her wonder more though, did Brigitte forget about her yet, did she find someone new yet? The thought of Brigitte finding someone new and holding them close like her made her ache for some reason. 

It was strange, thinking about Brigitte moving onto someone new and forgetting about her made her feel a sense of sadness and aching, that was normal though right? Any normal friend would be upset about being left behind. Somehow that still didn’t feel right. However it had to be correct since they were just close friends and it had to be normal to feel like that when drifting away from someone you care about a lot. 

If, no actually, when she went back would Brigitte still have any interest in being her friend? She told her she was taking care of her sick mother and she knew that Brigitte would have her doubts about it. Those doubts did seem reasonable though since not many people would pack up and leave their life behind to take care of their mother. Yeah you could argue lots of people care about their moms but enough to just leave everything behind? It didn’t seem very believable the more she looked back on it but it was she could think of, she was never the best at lying to begin with.

A hand lightly tapped her on the shoulder, ”you've been working hard so I thought we could take a short break,” when Christy nodded a cup of tea was placed in front of her. A look of disgust made its way onto her face but she put her poker face back on as soon as she noticed. Tea always disgusted her, it just tasted like hot water with leaves in it but she knew she couldn’t ask for something like hot chocolate in exchange since it was considered,”unprofessional,” whatever that meant. It was bitter and gross but she took little skips occasionally, making sure to mention how she wasn’t thirsty to try and get out of drinking it. That excuse never really worked though since her poker face was never as good as she believed it was, her mother and etiquette teacher always saw through it.

She pushed the tea away from her on the table and in her mind and chose to look for a book to read while she used her short break. 

She was running out of books to read since they were all she used for entertainment. She would say she could use her phone but that was taken away since it was, ”not of use for you since you have no one to contact on it anyways.” She tried to make the excuse that she needed to text her fiance, the word made her gag since she still wasn’t on board with it but it was what it was, but her mother just stated that if it was urgent or important he could tell her in person. 

When she read stories like Rapunzel she never quite understood how the main character felt until now. She felt the same trapped controllingness as awful as that sounded. She wanted her space but that was an argument she would never win and she’d rather not start it since it only ended up being used against her in the long run.

Sometimes when she read different romance books from their library they had details that made her feel warm and fuzzy like the night her and Brigitte danced in the rain. It had been months and months since that night but she could swear she could still feel the drops coming down and hitting her while they twirled around and laughed. More nostalgia mixed with her sad feelings of being trapped. That night and all the ones leading up to before she left she felt like a bird that finally learned how to use its wings and was flying everywhere until it got struck down and landed on the ground with broken wings but no one around to help fix them so they could fly again. Sometimes when it got extra lonely she replayed her old conversations with Brigitte and acted out their interactions except it was her playing both parts. 

“Christina darling it’s time for lunch, you will continue your lesson after eating,” she nodded and got up to follow her mother into the dining room. There were stupidly expensive pieces of artwork scattered along the walls of the hallway they walked. Some were abstract colors flying all over the canvas and other were portraits of people she didn’t even know. She really felt like it was pointless to have art on your walls if it was just there because it cost a lot of money but her parents felt differently apparently.

When they sat down the food was the same or almost the same as always, never home cooked since her parents said they had better things to do than cook when they had people they hired to do it. One of the foods was tomato soup, it was mildly warm and extra runny. The soup tasted bland but since her parents and family never ate homemade food she guessed it tasted great to them. Next to the soup was a bowl of pasta with sauces laid out on the table. She was thankful that her parents were at least smart enough to not eat grossly bland pasta. That didn’t mean it tasted the best however. The flavor of the food they ate tasted like the chefs were trying too hard to make it fancy and extravagant but in reality it was just gross. Now she was no food critic but she could tell when food didn’t taste like it should.

She glanced up to see her parents staring at her, of course how could she have forgotten that her parents insisted on saying grace before each meal. She bowed her head but tuned out what her parents were saying, choosing to make up different endings to book from earlier instead. She peeked up and saw they had started eating and so she followed suit. The food was cold but it didn’t really bother her since she was used to it when she ate by herself at home.

Once she was done eating she excused herself from the table before anyone could protest and went to the garden in their backyard. She stopped in front of the roses and pulled a flower off. She plucked the petals off and they surrounded her where she sat. She felt like there was a joke somewhere in that sentence. 

She started humming to herself, it was a lullaby she had heard somewhere before, she couldn’t remember where though. 

She laid in the grass and stared at the clouds, she wasn’t worried about being lectured since this was her own spot she kept hidden. She wondered what it was like to be a cloud, so free to just exist with no expectations or pressure. It seemed like a nice concept, she could bet the clouds didn’t have an ongoing crisis with its parents since it didn’t have any. She wasn’t really sure if having no parents was worse than having her parents. She had tried everything to get their attention and to get them to be kinder but at the end of the day they were the same selfish people. She almost wished they would come looking for her and ask what was wrong but unless it had to do with them in a way that would negatively affect them then they wouldn’t care.

She connected the shapes of the clouds to different things as they passed.

No matter how long she waited to hear someone come calling her name and tell her to come back inside no one ever came. It hurt her but she didn’t expect anything else from them. She stayed and laid in the grass a while longer, it was cool and there was a slight breeze to fight against the warmth from the sun. She closed her eyes and thought of all the things she could be doing if she didn’t have to come home. Maybe her and Brigitte would find some more books to read to each other and different drinks off the menu to try. Maybe they would go to a painting class together and paint the clouds Christy had all around her at the moment. Maybe if she had a sibling she wouldn’t be stuck in what feels like a limbo. A part of her however didn’t want a sibling since she wouldn’t wish this sad lonely life on anyone no matter how nice it appeared when the money was included in the equation of her life. 

At some point she must have drifted off in the garden because when she opened her eyes there were stars in the sky and the moon replaced the sun. Her disappointment grew when she realized it must have been hours and still no one came to get her. She pushed herself up slowly and dusted off her shirt, looking at the moon as she spoke, ”how do you glow so bright even when it gets lonely up there?”  
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“Hold still,” the woman wrapped the tape measure around Christy's waist. She held her arms up awkwardly while the tall woman took her measurements. A little while had passed and she was in the clear to leave. ”So Christina what type of dress do you fancy,” she looked at her mother strangely, ”I haven’t heard anyone use that word like that in so long, jeez you have the vocabulary of a woman from the nineteenth century, ” her mother rolled her eyes and pushed the dresses apart to look through all the options. She held up a dress with a tight bodice and long train of fabric at the back. It had lace and simple embellishments with sleeves that got wider from the elbow down. ”Yeah it’s perfect,” she spoke trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, not wanting to have to try and pick out a dress all day. Her mother took it as a yes and held onto it. “What about this veil, I think it would look lovely on you,” Christy nodded and her mother picked it up and held onto the veil too.

She had tried to push back the date she had to get a dress but seeing as it was only two months before the wedding, Christy felt sick at the thought of it, she was forced to go. She knew it wouldn’t be too long now until the dress would be fitted for her and she would be forced to live this life she didn’t want to. She dearly missed Brigitte and would give anything to leave her life in her family company behind. She had tried so hard to get used to this new life but no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t, she just wasn’t meant to live out a life like this. She was meant to live out a small cozy life not one that’s empty and about as much fun as watching paint dry. She hated that she was stuck and that there was nothing she could do to get out of it but unfortunately that’s how life was for her, unfair.

She thought about her false sense of freedom that those few years away from her family gave her. She didn’t want to live out this dumb vision her parents had for her but because their family was of such importance she didn’t have any room to argue taking over. If she had known that flying back home would land her in a life like this she would have never even answered the phone. 

She didn’t have any more time to continue her angry inner monologue though since she was already being dragged to a different area of the boutique by her mother.

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“I do,” he spoke after saying his vows. Christy felt multiple pairs of eyes glaring, burning holes into her like a warning to seal the vows and to not object. She hesitantly looked up at him, just a few months ago she would have agreed to get married but now that she was actually standing waiting to be wed she didn’t want to be. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, ”I,” she thought about what she was going to say next with a lot of care, ”I..,” she whispered the next words with tears in her eyes, ”I’m sorry.”

That was all he caught before a flash of white ran down the aisle and out of the church doors.


	8. Will you do me the honors my dear?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I am aware it isn’t this easy to board a plane :’)

Christy panted as she ran, who knew running with a wedding dress would be so hard. Well obviously it would be but she hadn’t thought of that when making her dramatic exit from the church. It wouldn’t be too long before her parents came back to yell at her like there was no tomorrow. She was grateful that she had been able to get out without being stopped but she knew she didn’t have time to stop home or she would be caught. Straight to the airport it was, she would just have to hope that Brigitte would let her in, well she had no reason to not let her in right?

She held her hand up and flagged a taxi down, she couldn’t take the personal drivers since they would just take her home and she couldn’t have that happen. 

Soon someone pulled over and she almost took the door off of its hinges with the speed she opened it. She shouted directions at the driver, he must've been intimidated since he didn’t even question it before hitting the gas pedal and turning where she told him to. She had mesmerized the way to the airport on an online map before her mother had taken her phone, she had to know otherwise she’d have no escape.

When the man pulled up she fled quickly hearing his shouts behind her while she ran, ”hey lady you didn’t pay!” She didn’t turn around though, she had only grabbed enough money to stay a few nights at a hotel she didn’t have the money to pay him and so she just ran. She couldn’t tell if he had given up and left but she had hoped he did since being arrested was the last thing she needed right then. 

She made it to the registration not knowing if she had missed her flight but hoping she hadn’t. She had gotten past quickly considering she had no bags or really anything but herself, a wallet and passport. She saw security staring at her as she picked up her pace towards the boarding area, she definitely looked pretty strange walking around in a wedding dress with no bags on her. She didn’t have time to think about it any longer since she heard the attendants for her flight call out that it was time for boarding and she was still a considerable amount of steps away. She took in a large breath or air and bolted like she was being chased by a serial killer, it worked since she barely made it. She bent over and gasped for air, sweating buckets as she weakly held out her ticket and identification. The woman looked hesitant but Christy insisted on her hurrying so she didn’t miss the flight. The woman complied and Christy sprinted to board the plane, well this was the most exercise she had probably ever gotten, especially in a day.

She slumped down in her seat and almost cried with relief but decided against it as to not draw even more attention to herself. She asked the person sitting next to her if she could borrow the book they were reading, which they agreed to. She opened to the first page and started reading. The plot of the book was weird and the writing was horrendous. There were terrible cuts from chapter to chapter and the two main characters were getting on her nerves since they wouldn’t just get together already. She frowned at the ending, it was dumb and made no sense to her. She tried to give the book back to the owner but they declined and let her keep it, obviously upset at the ending as well. 

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She blinked her eyes slowly and yawned, she was one of the last people on the plane. She. saw the attendant call for her to get off the plane. It took her a few seconds to process what the woman meant but once she did she sat up and rushed off, at the end turning around and seeing the irritated expression on the lady’s face. She cringed at that, she must’ve been trying to wake Christy up for a while. Well it wasn’t her fault she had spent all her nights the past days planning her escape instead of sleeping she grumbled as she started exiting the airport. She speedwalked to the exit, ready to just lay down and sleep. The flight had been very long and drained her of all her energy. 

She stood in front of the exit waving her hand to signal a taxi over. Everyone seemed to ignore her, probably because they didn’t want to deal with the potential drama of her situation since she was a runaway bride. After what had to have been an hour of her just standing and waiting someone was brave enough to pull over and let her in. He stared at her most likely waiting for an explanation, ”long story,” she said and the man just slowly nodded, reversing out of the parking lot. 

She could see a light drizzle starting to hit the ground while they sped down the highway. The cars driving next to them were blurs that mixed with the rain that was steadily starting to get heavier. It wasn’t long before it was pouring and the rain was hitting the ground harder than bullets. She was dreading getting out of the car and having to quickly find a motel near Brigitte’s building without getting murdered by the rain. She felt relief that she had put clothes on under her dress. She would look out of place wearing a tank top and shorts with white dressy heels that didn’t go together at all but if she was thinking rationally the shoes were the least of her concerns. 

The man pulled over and asked her for the owed money which she did end up being able to give him since she hadn’t paid the other man who drove her to the airport. He backed up and drove away quickly, probably trying to get home away from the rain she figured. She took her hands and held them over her head like a makeshift umbrella. She looked around and walked for a while looking for an okay place to stay and stumbling onto a cheap motel that was only a ten minute walk from Brigitte’s building. She didn’t think it would be too hard to find a place anyways since Brigitte lived by tons of different hotels and even some hotels which Christy couldn’t afford to stay in. She thought about how ironic that statement was and even laughed at it, she was part of a stupidly rich family yet here she was, in a completely drenched wedding gown with only enough money to stay a few nights in a motel. If she had to guess where she thought she would be in the future it definitely wouldn’t be walking into a dirty motel with a tiny gift shop that she would be staying in for the next few days of her life.

She walked up to the woman and put the cash on the table, ”how many nights can I afford to stay?” The woman eyed her up and down before counting the money, ”rough night?” Christy agreed with her, ”you could say that.” The woman put the money away and pulled out a keycard, ”you have four nights,” Christy took the card and made her way to the giftshop, four nights was better than she was expecting but not great. She walked into the cramped store that was more like a booth. She walked over to the hygiene and picked up a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, the fact that it would cost the rest of her money made her gulp nervously at the thought of having no spare change on her in case of emergency. As much as she hated her current situation she refused to go home and admit defeat, she would never let them trap her in that controlling rich lifestyle and she especially wouldn’t let them marry her off without permission.

She slid the toothbrush and toothpaste across the glass countertop with the cash on top. The person working there picked up the cash and put it away, not bothering to check if she had grabbed her stuff before pushing her out of the small booth and telling her that it was closed for the night. She gave him a dirty look and headed for the stairs not wanting to get in the elevator since it looked like it would break at any second. She noticed how much people in the area hated repairing their elevators, it was baffling that they just couldn’t be bothered. 

She scanned the keycard and watched it decline multiple times. As she prepared herself to turn around and go back to the front desk there was a quiet click and the door to her room opened. She peeked inside and carefully stepped inside, she never fully trusted motels because of how easy it was to break into the rooms. All she wanted was to get through her four days without getting brutally murdered, which as crazy as it sounded was a real fear she always had when it came to motels. Who didn’t think about them like that anyways? They were terrifying to her but she couldn’t walk ten minutes when it was pitch black outside, no way was she that insane. Knowing she was stuck there for the next few days she pulled the blankets off the bed, not wanting to even sleep on them since they looked like they hadn’t been washed in a century. She threw up in her mouth a little at the state of the room and almost actually threw up physically at the thought of having to stay in the room for the next four days. She made up her mind that she would just go to Brigitte’s the next day. Christy didn’t want to be dramatic but she truly believed if she stayed in the room any longer that she’d die from being killed or a heart attack when there was eventually a rat that would scurry around. 

She climbed on the bed and sat stiffly, the room had stains on the walls and the bed looked like it was starting to mold. She hadn’t even checked the bathroom, if the bed was this bad alone she didn’t even want to think about the bathroom. She swallowed thickly, her eyes darting around paranoid. She supposed it was better than staying outside but then again she wasn’t very confident in that sentence. She knew for a fact that she wasn’t going to sleep and at that point she wasn’t sure if it was worth it to even stay there instead of walking to Brigitte’s building. She decided that once it was a bit lighter outside she’d sprint to her building and hope that she could slip inside with someone else.

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She wasn’t sure if it had been only a few minutes or a few hours but she couldn’t stand being in the room any longer. She ran to the door and looked through the peephole to make sure there was no one. She was either going to get extremely lucky or be dead by the end of the night and she desperately hoped it would be the first option.

She tore off the train of her dress and any parts that trailed along the ground, stuffing them into the small bin in the filthy motel room. It would be more sensible to wear a torn dress than just a tank top and shorts. She then opened the door and watched it swing open before making a run for it, sprinting past the front desk and out the doors. It was still almost pitch black outside and her fear was through the roof. As she ran she shook like an earthquake, not stopping even when she tripped or heard a noise. 

She spotted Brigitte’s building and saw someone entering with a key. She booked it to the door and stood next to them answering them before they could question her,”I lost my key uh,” she gave them a fake laugh that shook with nervousness. The stranger looked like they didn’t want to even open the door because she was standing there but once they did she went straight for the stairs. 

She thanked her lucky stars that she made it inside and even started crying about how happy she was that she didn’t die. She pounded on Brigitte’s door and shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting with her hands as her eyes scanned the hallway over and over again.

She held her hand up to knock again when there was a click from inside and the door opened, a dead tired looking Brigitte standing in front of her looking worse off than Christy when she ran all the way to Brigitte’s front door. She didn’t give her any chance to close the door before running past her and clinging to the couch. She heard the door close and heard footsteps walk in her direction. She looked up to see Brigitte looking paler than a sheet of paper as if she was about to throw up. Christy rubbed the back of her neck,”uh can we talk in the morning, it’s been a long night,” Brigitte just nodded without protest and she heard the bedroom door lock when Brigitte entered. She frowned at that, she hoped that she hadn’t scared Brigitte enough to make her feel that she needed to lock the door when she was over. 

She took Brigitte’s reaction at just the shock of her being there and brushed it off, laying her head down on the couch. 

Words couldn’t describe how relieved she had been when Brigitte opened the door and let her stay without any protest. She would clear up everything in the morning and they would go back to how everything was before, she was sure of it. She drifted off to the buzzing of various bugs outside the window.  
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It didn’t make sense to Brigitte who it could be at this hour but she got up anyways and shuffled sluggishly to the front door. She looked through the peephole only to see...Christy? Shock passed through her veins and she quickly unlocked the door. When she looked through the peephole she thought maybe she was imagining it, but as her and Christy made eye contact she knew she couldn’t be imagining this no matter how much sleep she missed at the moment. She didn’t even get a chance to question how or why she was standing at her door at such an early hour of the morning and knocking like she was trying to break the door down before she ran past her like a marathon runner and hugged the couch tightly. She swiftly locked the door and went to stand in front of the couch. However when she went to ask any questions she found that her mouth felt like sandpaper and she suddenly couldn’t do anything but look like a fish out of water.

Christy asked about talking in the morning and she numbly nodded, too shocked to question it. She sat curled into a ball on her bed utterly shellshocked, maybe she was hallucinating and Christy wasn’t actually there. Many possibilities went through her head but she soon agreed with herself that if Christy was indeed still there in the morning that she would have to find a way to avoid her. She could always throw her out the apartment but judging from how she rushed in the apartment she wouldn’t doubt it if she had nowhere else to stay and as much as Brigitte loathed her and didn’t want her anywhere near her she wouldn’t be able to throw her out when a part of her was still madly in love and didn’t want any potential harm to come to the woman.

The two different sides of her mentally fought, she was still slightly hopeful that if she confessed that Christy would realize and love her back. The part of her that was thinking like a rational person was thinking the opposite though, she wouldn’t love her back and she was just setting herself up for further heartbreak. She felt a headache begin forming from how hard she was thinking. Noticing it she laid down and looked at the ceiling, laying an arm over her eyes. She wanted to be furious at Christy for just leaving then thinking she could come back and everything would be normal again, but she just couldn’t fully hate her since she was still completely and utterly in love with her. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to confess and be with her and or hate her guts and scream at her to never come near her again.

The headache began again so she cleared her mind and concluded that she would take care of this later, she still had work later that morning that she couldn’t afford to miss since she was still barely paying her bills.

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Christy felt the sun beaming down on her and she opened her eyes, the sun shining directly into them trying to blind her. She put an arm in front of the spot the sun was coming in from and sat up. The previous night came back to her and as she was about to look for Brigitte she saw a note on the table in Brigitte’s handwriting,’at work. You can stay if you don’t bother me or try to interfere with me at all,’ the passive aggressiveness of the note made Christy scratch her head, she didn’t think she had done anything to deserve this. She went to pull her phone out to text Brigitt But realized she hadn’t brought it. She facepalmed at her stupidity, she would just have to assume that Brigitte would let her borrow some clothes. 

She took a quick shower and tried on a shirt that Brigitte had, it was smaller on her considering how Brigitte was pretty short compared to her but she wasn’t one to complain. She looked a little strange as the clothes were a little too small but they were okay enough that she didn’t look like she was an adult wearing clothes from the infant section.

She set the wedding gown into Brigitte’s gabe bin, it wasn’t like she was going to need it anytime soon now. She walked around the small apartment, it looked like a five star hotel in comparison to the disgusting motel she was in last night. She felt a bit of anger as she remembered her last dollar bills that she spent there that she wasted for no reason. She felt like an idiot for spending all of her money thinking she was going to stay there all four nights or even one night. She felt queasy recalling how absolutely gross the room was and how the chance of her dying from mold poisoning was more likely than being killed in her sleep, which was saying a lot when she saw how flimsy the lock system and doors were. Cold sweat went down her spine and the only thing she could say was that she was grateful Brigitte was letting her stay. 

She went through Brigitte’s cabinet to see what she could eat, not wanting to have the expensive food in her fridge without permission. She hadn’t eaten at all the day prior and felt sick with how hungry she was. She wasn’t used to going so long without eating and she didn’t want to have that empty feeling in her stomach any longer. She pulled out the peanut butter and jelly with two slices of bread. She opened what she assumed would be the silverware drawer. Most of them were cheap plastic knives and forks but she wouldn’t complain since it was still something. Heck she would use her hands to spread the condiments if she had to, she was hungry to the point where it didn’t matter.

She pulled out a chair and began eating her sandwich, it was heaven on a plate to her empty stomach. She scarfed it down like a hungry dog and brought her plate to the sink. She checked the time above the stove,’2:47pm,’ there was still a few more hours before Brigitte would be back. She groaned with boredom and laid on the floor when she saw boxes in the corner of the room. Feeling curious with nothing else to do she pulled them over to the center of the room and started to take things out. 

The first thing she saw was a small framed photograph of a short girl who didn’t look older than fifteen standing in front of a large body of water. She couldn’t tell who it was but it surely wasn’t Brigitte if the bright smile on her face was saying anything. She knew Brigitte was capable of smiling and being generally happy but it was very rare and she doubted Brigitte would ever smile in photos. She pulled out more photographs, some framed and some not. 

She was so absorbed in looking at the different pictures that she didn’t hear the front door opening and someone coming over to her angrily. She felt hands shove her back and sntach up the contents of the box and put the back where she found them. Her and Brigitte caught eyes when she turned around, ”what do you think you’re doing looking through my personal stuff you nosy little,” Brigitte didn’t finish her sentence and instead chose to stomp up to Christy and point a finger right in her face. Christy held her hands up in surrender as Brigitte kept screaming at her, ”I’m letting you stay here which is a huge favor but if you go through my stuff again I won’t hesitate to throw you out and you can find somewhere else to stay,” Christy panicked at that and apologized repeatedly. Brigitte stood with her eyes narrowed into slits and her arms folded so tightly she might’ve cut off her circulation ,”I forgive you for now but I will stick to my warning if you do it again.” Christy nodded, she was going to ask Brigitte to talk about where she really was when the bathroom door slammed loudly and Brigitte ignored any requests to talk.

Brigitte stared at herself in the mirror and felt a wave of petals come up and go into the sink, covering it in blood. She grimaced at it but tried to calm herself. She took shaky breaths in and out but it didn’t stop the burning hatred she was feeling. How dare Christy just come back and then go through all her stuff. How dare she even lay her eyes on a picture of her sweet sister who Christy didn’t deserve to look at. She echoed the breathing pattern she had been taught for when she got too angry to calm herself down. It took longer than she wanted but a wave of guilt went over her and she felt terrible for snapping at Christy like that who didn’t do anything. She didn’t know she couldn’t look through that stuff which made Brigitte feel awful but not enough to talk with her. She would let her stay but that didn’t mean she had to confront her. She splashed some water on her face and studied her face in the mirror, she always looked angry even when she wasn’t so she hoped she hadn’t scared Christy off. 

A part of her was curious about why she was wearing a wedding gown that was torn at the bottom but she didn’t want to talk to her so she just let the curiosity build up inside her. She opened the door and made a dash for the fridge. She heard Christy try and talk to her but she snarked out a response that Christy for sure wasn’t looking for, ”I told you that you could stay if you left me alone and didn’t interfere,” Christy stuttered, ”but-,” she cut her off, ”if you won’t listen to what I just told you then you can leave,” She slammed the fridge closed and went to the cabinets and pulled out a box of pasta that she had for a while and would go bad if she didn’t eat it in the next day or so. She boiled water and let the water cook while she put two plates on the table, ”if you want some you can have some,” Christy took her up on the offer and after about ten minutes there was a steaming bowl of food on the small table. They sat eating quietly, occasionally Christy would try to start a conversation but Brigitte shut her down everytime.

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A few days had gone by with Christy and Brigitt being in the continuous cycle of trying to talk and being denied any conversation, quietly eating meals that they prepared with the limited food in the apartment and Christy sometimes snooping through Brigitte’s stuff when she was at work. She was careful not to get caught after that one time and each time Brigitte left she would find new photos or items that looked related to her past in some way. She wanted to ask but knew that the only way she would know about that stuff is if she was looking which would alert Brigitte she was in fact snooping and she didn’t want to lose the only place she could stay. 

They were avoiding any important topics and it frustrated Christy to no end, how could Brigitte have gone from one of her closest friends to just a stranger she was staying with. It felt surreal to her since she couldn’t recall ever doing anything to deserve the treatment Brigitte was giving her. She was growing upset with each day that passed by and yet they didn’t address the elephant in the room no matter how hard Christy tried. She didn’t want to go back to work just yet since it would give Brigitte a way to escape talking even easier and she felt they both really needed to have a nice long talk about everything that happened and how to get rid of the brick wall Brigitte had pretty much put between them when it came to any confrontation or talking.

She was set on trapping Brigitte when she got home this time and forcing them to talk so she could explain everything. She sat on the couch in the same spot waiting for Brigitte to come home so she could force her to talk. She would have this talk if it was the last thing she did. It wasn’t about her talking about everything that had happened and why she was gone as much as it was her wanting to find why Brigitte was being so cold and constantly brushing her off.

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She waved goodbye to her boss and left. She hated how Christy kept trying to get them to talk when it was quite clear she didn’t want to. She wasn’t sure what else she had to do to get Christy to back off and leave her alone besides kicking her out but even then Christy would probably come to the cafe and wait for her or wait by her building to talk. She didn’t know what was so important that they absolutely had to talk but she had a gut feeling she wouldn’t like it at all. 

She put a hand over her mouth and coughed up a few pretty rose petals. Lately they were coming up so much more no matter how much medication she tried to take to get rid of them. The meds were working for the past few months but all of a sudden stopped working as well and she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. She tried looking over the label on the bottle and seeing if she had been eating food she hadn’t been supposed to. She even tried talking to her doctor but he couldn’t help her out much, he only repeated what he had told her before when she found out about her condition. She was coughing them up to the point where people around her started being more concerned about her having asthma or something similar. She assured them many times that she didn’t have anything and it was just a bug she must’ve picked up or summer allergies making her congested more than normal. None of it seemed to stick since her coughs really were something to be concerned about, even she knew that. They were rattling coughs that made her whole body shake and her eyes water. They irritated her throat that was already suffering from the petals that came with these horrible coughs. She had a sneaking suspicion that her worsening condition had to do with Christy popping back into her life randomly. She had noticed that she was getting worse ever since Christy had shown up but she just couldn’t understand why, it didn’t make sense to her. 

She made her way up the stairs and stopped in front of her door, she was thinking about not going in so she could avoid Christy trying to keep talking to her and saying that she had important stuff to say. She knew she was probably telling the truth but she didn’t want to have to have a conversation that would ultimately lead to Christy leaving. The longer she held off the conversation the longer Christy had to stay to try and explain so she couldn’t let the woman talk to her. She wanted to keep her sound for as long as she could since she thought the moment they talked and fully gave out their explanations that Christy would get up and leave. She also didn’t want to accidentally spill anything about her condition since it would guilt Christy into being with her and as much as she wanted that she couldn’t let it happen.

However she didn’t have much more time to think when the door swung open and she was pulled in and seated on the couch. She knew what Christy was trying to do and she wouldn’t allow it but when she tried to get up she felt her hands being held in place. Christy had grabbed her wrists and it was clear that they couldn’t avoid talking any longer. Christy took them to her tiny dining table and held her wrists while they sat. Brigitte complained, ”can you let go of me now?” Christy shook her head, ”I know you’d run the moment I let go and we have to talk now,” her tone was serious and to be honest it scared Brigitte, what was that important for them to chat about?

Christy cleared her throat, ”can I start from the beginning,” Brigitte nodded confused, what was there to explain? Christy had told her that she was going to take care of her sick mother, that was straightforward enough and didn’t need any explaining.

Christy took in a breath and began, ”the first thing I have to say is that I uh,” she looked around, ”I lied about leaving to take care of my sick mother.” Brigitte didn’t say anything which made Christy nervous, even anger would be better than no reaction at that moment. She kept talking though because eventually Brigitte would try to leave and she had to get the whole truth out. ”I kind of didn’t tell you the full truth, I wasn’t going to take care of my sick mother. I was actually asked to come home to take over,” Brigitte tilted her head, ”what do you mean take over?” Christy opened her mouth to speak and everything came tumbling out before she could stop it, ”my family owns one of the richest companies right now and I got a call from my mother telling me I needed to come home because there was something very important happening,” she sucked a breath in, ”I was told after a few days that I would have to get married to my boyfriend to take over and they treated everything like it was the victorian era and I ended up running away from my wedding last minute because I didn’t want to be stuck with that life and didn’t bring anything so I came to you and I didn’t know how to say all this since you wouldn’t listen and-” her rambling got cut off. Brigitte spoke slowly, ”let’s make our way through everything you just said,” Christy agreed and was speaking again but without all the rambling. By now Christy had forgotten to hold on to Brigitte to keep her from running away but Brigitte had no intention of going anywhere without finding out what Christy’s rambling meant. ”Okay so I am actually part of a super rich family and I moved here to get away from them but I got a call from my mother telling me my presence was needed since it was urgent and I couldn’t just say no.” Brigitte took in everything she had been told when an unreadable expression made its way to her face, ”you lied to me?” Brigitte’s betrayed tone of voice was exactly like how Christy pictured it. She fumbled with her words, ”Well I didn’t exactly lie I just didn’t say the whole truth I mean I said it was important that I headed home but I changed up the reason a little bit,” Brigitte looked as if she had been slapped across the face. She whispered for Christy to go on. Christy did but she looked kind of distraught at how much worse Brigitte’s reaction was in person vs her imagination. ”I was being forced to marry my boyfriend to fully take over since they didn’t want me to take over, not married,” Brigitte grinded her teeth and talked, ”oh your boyfriend huh? I bet he’s so nice that you had to abandon me to go be with him,” Christy had caught onto her tone and the implication of her words, ”I told you that I ran away from the wedding so why are you so upset huh?”

Brigitte rubbed her forehead with her hand and stood up from the table to start pacing around the living room, ”I can’t believe this, it’s like I don’t even know you,” she had gotten louder at the end and it sounded more like she had yelled it. Christy was becoming fed up with Brigitte’s attitude very fast, it wasn’t her fault any of this happened and it wasn’t fair that Brigitte was acting like this when she told him that she left all of it behind to come back. Christy’s voice was also slightly raised when she said something back, ”why are you acting like I abandoned you huh, I came back I ran away from my wedding to come back, I left an entire life behind for you and you treat me like this?” A heated argument was sparking between them while they yelled back and forth. ”You lied to me about everything, if you had told me the truth from the beginning I would’ve treated you the exact same but no you had to go and lie, how do I know anything you’re telling me right now is the truth either?” Christy was fuming at this point, ”how do I know you’re being honest either huh, you barely told me anything about you why did you expect me to share something as big as that with you,” Brigitte took a step back and tears sprung up in her eyes, ”do you not..trust me?” Christy took a step closer to which Brigitte took another step back. ”No I do but you couldn’t have expected me to share that with you when we barely know each other,” Brigitte felt more tears from but they were tears or anger and not sadness this time,”well maybe we don’t know each other that well because you completely lied to me,” Christy rolled her eyes and threw her arms up, ”oh yeah well you didn’t say anything about yourself either,” Brigitte yelled at her, ”I did, I told you about my sister,” Christy scoffed loudly at her at spat her next words with such venom that Brigitte felt them in her soul, ”you talked about your dead sister so what!” The room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop, ”I-I didn’t mean that Brigitte you have to understand-” Brigitte knew there were tears rushing down her face but she didn’t care. She mustered up enough energy to whisper out a weak, ”get out,” directed at Christy. The woman in question tried to apologize but the longer she remained in Brigitte's apartment that more furious Brigitte became, ”I said get out!” Christy ran out the door and it slammed behind her. She could hear Christy going down the hallway in an attempt to give Brigitte some space. Brigitte however just crumpled to the floor, sobs racking her entire body so hard she could barely breathe. She suddenly started coughing and in front of her on the floor was a single rose. She gasped and remembered what it meant. She picked it up with one shaky hand, the other over her mouth muffling her sobs. She turned it around in her hand and saw the blood scattered all over it, there was no mistaking what just happened. Her argument with Christy had just pushed her over the edge, this was it. She couldn’t keep herself composed as she leaned forward and soaked her clothes with tears. Her nose was runny and there were tears streaming down her face. 

It wasn’t just from the rose though, it was from her entire argument with Christy. She thought that Christy would just confess to her mom not being as sick as she said and so she didn’t end up having to stay as long. Instead she got the opposite. She thought her and Christy knew everything about each other and that there were no big secrets between them before she left. She was part of a rich family apparently and getting forced to marry her boyfriend. The thought of Christy not only not being in love with her but with someone else who she was in love with instead made another rose appear in front of her and more tears rushed down. She could say she ran away for Brigitte and that she didn’t want it but deep down she just felt like that couldn’t be the truth, there was no way Christy left for her she probably just left to get away from a life she didn’t want and not for Brigitte. She sobbed more, how could she have been so naive to think that everything would end up being okay and that it would all go back to normal after they talked. She screamed into her hands and felt the tears choking her up. Her sadness about Christy not loving her back slightly disappeared when she thought back to the last comment she made before Brigitte told her to get out. Her sister. Brigitte cried because of her little sister and how Christy had turned it against her in a negative way. She had the guts to open up about the most important person to her only to have it thrown back in her face harshly. She wiped at her eyes and swayed in place when she stood up. 

She shakily walked to her bathroom and stared at her reflection. She traced the person looking back at her with her finger. There stood a woman, one with puffy eyes from crying almost everyday. There stood a woman who was having her life come to an end because she let someone know to fill the hole her sister left only to fall so deeply in love with them that them not loving her back made literal flowers bloom in her lungs. She gripped the edge of the sink and felt her tears swarm in her eyes. She had finally given a loving someone a second chance and where did it get her? Here, it got her here. Everything she had ever done led up to then, it led her to eventually crying until she couldn’t see from the puffiness of her eyes and coughing up flowers pretty enough to be sold in a flower shop all because she let someone in again. Truthfully she wasn’t even sure she could blame Christy anymore, she couldn’t control how Brigitte felt literally in terms of the flowers. She took a deep breath in and out and looked at herself in the mirror one more time before taking her shaky legs and making her way to her bedroom where she pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes.


	9. Isn’t it funny

Christy had never felt so ashamed of herself, how could she have said something like that to Brigitte who was obviously struggling with her sister's death still. She decided she would come back later that afternoon and try and fully apologize and cool things down between her and Brigitte. She would make sure that Brigitte knew she only said that in the heat of the moment and she didn’t really mean it. She put her hands in her pockets and walked over to what used to be their favorite spot. She opened the doors to the bookstore and the scent of pastries lured her in more. The guilt she felt was overwhelming and she could barely focus on anything else while she looked for a book but she was set on giving Brigitte some time to cool off and calm down before she came back.

As she reached for a book she saw the small heart that was tattooed on the inside of her wrist, she had forgotten about it until then. It made her tear up a little bit since she didn’t know if they would recover from the fight. She heard the rain outside hit the windows because of the wind and for once she didn’t feel like she was crying alone. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand and picked a book off of the shelf. She didn’t check to see what kind of book it was or what it was even about, she didn’t care much about if it was good or not she just needed to distract her until later. 

The woman who brought them their drinks every time they went sauntered over and asked what she’d like to order. It was then that Christy noticed she didn’t have any money or her person so she politely told her that she was alright. This definitely concerned the woman, ”oh are you sick?” Christy shook her head, ”no I’m just not that thirsty,” the woman looked skeptical but soon gave up, ”okay well tell your friend I said hi,” Christy sat still and didn’t say anything to the woman for reassurance. She didn’t bother Christy about it though, just assuming she was too into whatever her book was about to realize someone was talking to her.

She couldn’t focus on her book and felt the guilt building up to the point where she’d most likely burst into tears if she didn’t get her apology to Brigitte and make her understand how truly sorry she was. 

She put the book back on the shelf and started back to the apartment. She sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the door but noticed it was open. She nervously shouted out for Brigitte. She didn’t get a response so she locked the door behind her and walked around the apartment soon being left in front of the bedroom door. She knocked a few times but Brigitte didn’t open it, ”I’m coming in okay Brigitte,” again there was no response. She pushed the door open and screamed. She ran forward and picked up Brigitte who was surrounded by a bunch of roses and blood. She felt for a pulse and while it was there it was very weak and likely to go away if she didn’t hurry. She grabbed Brigitte’s phone off the nightstand, her voice shaking so badly that the operator almost couldn’t understand what she was saying.

She hung up after being assured that people were coming and to leave the door open for them. She sat on the edge of Brigitte’s bed with her in her lap. She brushed the hair off of Brigitte's face and saw tears hitting Brigitte’s face but unlike all the fairy tales her eyes stayed closed and she didn’t move. She hugged her close and tears rose to her eyes, ”I’m so sorry,” she said softly over and over again. When emergency services came in to get Brigitte to the hospital they had to pry her away from Christy only making her let go when they promised to let her ride in the ambulance. While she was in the vehicle with Brigitte she couldn’t even look at her without crying so she looked away until they arrived. She was rushed in and she was told she had to wait in the waiting room while she was taken into intensive care. She saw doctors and nurses go in and out of the room Brigitte was in which made her extremely scared for Brigitte’s health. She had no idea why there were flowers around her when she found her and she had no idea why or how she was dying. She bit her fingernails and watched closely as everyone ran around like chickens with their heads cut off. 

She had fallen asleep because when she opened her eyes there was a doctor standing in front of her telling her that she could head into the room Brigitte was moved into when she was ready. She didn’t have to be asked twice before she left for Brigitte’s room. When she got there she was out of breath from going so fast to see her. She saw Brigitte sitting up with all different types of tubes coming out of her. She turned and saw Christy to which Christy hesitated, she didn’t know if Brigitte was still upset. To her surprise Brigitte patted the spot on the bed next to her. She complied and sat next to her looking at the ground still ashamed of herself. Brigitte picked up her hand and held it between both of hers, it caught Christy’s attention and she locked eyes with Brigitte. ”I think I owe you an explanation now,” Christy opened her mouth but didn’t say anything, ”I have a disease called hanahaki which means flowers grow in my lungs and will suffocate me one day.” Christy let a few tears slip at that, ”are you...dying?” She asked quietly but Brigitte didn’t answer and kept explaining instead, ”it’s a genetic mutation which means not everyone will get it, my sister had it which is why I was so upset about anyone mentioning her. Part of the reason why I avoided you because coughing up the flowers reminded me of her too much.” Christy’s eyes softened at that, ”I’m so sorry for what I said,” but Brigitte shook her head, ”it’s okay I forgive you,” Christy looked shocked, ”but what I said was horrible,” Brigitte sighed, ”my life is too short to get upset at every mistake when I could forgive and forget. Christy froze, ”what do you mean too short, you’re going to recover right?” Brigitte teared up and held Christy's hand tightly, ”not this time,” Christy started throwing a bunch of questions at her, ”but why is this happening to you and are you sure there’s no cure?” Brigitte smiled at her, ”it’s caused by love so strong that when it’s not fully returned it builds up and creates the flowers that feed off of the feelings, the only way to get rid of it is to,” she paused, ”get the surgery that removes those emotions.” Christy perked up a little bit at that, ”so can’t you get it then?” Brigitte looked over at the moon shining against the window and reflecting onto Brigitte. She looked like she was glowing because of the moonlight. ”Oh Christy I don’t think you get it, I wouldn’t feel anything and I’d be living out my life like a robot. I’d rather enjoy what very little time I have left than live a miserable life not feeling anything at all.” Christy looked at the window Brigitte was staring at, their reflections looking back at them, ”I’m not going to be able to change your mind huh,” Christy sadly chuckled. She saw Brigitte’s reflections shake her head and the room fell into silence besides the machines next to her bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Christy didn’t look at her when she asked it but she knew Brigitte was looking at her, ”I didn’t want to pressure you into anything,” Christy snapped her head to look at Brigitte and pointed a finger at herself, ”am I the one you love?” Brigitte silently nodded, ”I want to say that I could help and that I’m also in love with you. At one point I thought maybe I felt something more for you but I can’t lie to myself and you Brigitte, I’m not in love with you and I won’t ever be.” At the bluntness of the statement Brigitte felt harsh sobs rip at her, ”I know, I accepted that a while ago. But will you please stay with me until I go?” Christy looked at her and moved a piece of Brigitte’s hair behind her ear, ”of course.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I won again!” Brigitte shouted triumphantly. Christy raised an eyebrow at the burst of energy that Brigitte randomly had from winning checkers for the fifth time in a row. She held her hands out and bowed mockingly, ”of course your majesty you always win,” Brigitte giggled. Christy stood up and popped her back, ”So, I have a surprise for you that I think you’ll like,” Brigitte looked curious, ”oh and what is it?” Christy leaned in and booped her nose, ”I can’t tell you since that would ruin the surprise, but I also have another surprise after that one.” Brigitte looked shocked, ”well I thought one was a lot but two?” She clicked her tongue, ”you really didn’t have to know,” Christy grinned, ”I know but you’ll understand when the surprise is ready.”

They went back to playing checkers and switched board games after Christy got tired of losing at checkers. After a little while a nurse peeked her head into the room,”is she ready?” Christy gave a thumbs up, ”just what did you plan Christy,” she was going to say more but she found herself unable to speak when she saw who entered the room. ”Mom? Dad?” Her eyes overflowed with fondness and she wiped away any potential tears before they had a chance to start falling. Her mother looked just how she remembered her, strong but loving. Her dad also looked the same, soft and sweet like cookies. She didn’t feel the need to hide her crying anymore when they came up to her and gave her a loving hug. Her heart swelled with love but she stooped for a moment and looked at them,”aren’t you mad at me?” They looked confused, ”what for?” She meant to speak louder but she felt a lump form in her throat preventing her from speaking any louder,”for abandoning you when she died,” not having the strength to use her sister's name but her parents caught on nonetheless. Her mother sat to her right and her father sat to the left leaving Christy at the foot of the bed. Her mother took her face and cupped into her hands so that Brigitte would look at her, the pure love in her eyes making Brigitte cry a little. ”We were never mad at you for that, we knew how hard you took it too. We were soft of hurt when you left but never mad or disappointed. I could never be mad at you and neither could your father.” She cried out and clung to her mother, feeling her rough fingers rub her back. ”I was so worried that you’d hate me forever and,” she wasn’t able to get out her full sentence because of the hiccups and sniffles she had from crying into her mothers arms. 

Her parents stayed until the late afternoon and talked with her the whole time, reminding her how much they loved her and that they'd always love her even when she wasn’t there for them to be with physically. When they had to leave she clung to them and begged them to not go but they eventually had to. She had shed a good few tears when they had finally left but Christy reminded her that she couldn’t cry all day since there was still one more thing she had planned.</p>

She was told to close her eyes and she felt herself be pushed in a wheelchair since she had grown too weak to walk by herself now. ”Where are we going?” Christy didn’t say anything so she became quiet and waited for Christy to tell her to open her eyes.

Before she knew it she was told to open her eyes and in front of her was a small picnic laid out. She looked up at Christy, ”it’s amazing, thank you” Christy gave her a smile before lifting her out of the chair and placing her onto the soft cloth on the ground. They were outside in the garden set up for people who wanted to plant fruits and various things but weren’t allowed to leave the hospital to create their own gardens at home.

Set on the blanket was a small woven basket with all types of cut up fruits and sandwiches placed in it. There was also a cooler on the edge of the blanket filled with water and different drinks Christy said she thought Brigitte would’ve liked to try. Brigitte excitedly pulled out a fruit drink and mini sandwich. ”Where did you get the money for all this?” Christy rubbed the back of her neck, ”well uh I talked to my family and they agreed to let me have this time with you and stay in this area in agreement that I’d come back when there were really serious matters or topics I had to take care of,” Brigitte started talking with her mouth full of food, ”that’s awesome, I’m so happy for you!” Christy cringed at her talking with food in her mouth, ”slow down at eat before talking or you’ll choke.” Brigitte playfully rolled her eyes and took another bite of her sandwich, making sure to swallow it before speaking again, ”so how did you get in contact with my parents?” Christy leaned back on her arm and watched as Brigitte enjoyed herself and the delicious food she prepared, ”a magician never reveals their secrets.” Brigitte huffed, ”that’s not fair,” Christy shrugged, ”oh well.”

They finished up their tasty sandwiches and Christy pulled out homemade cookies she had made to cheer Brigitte up, ”are those for me?” Christy nodded and Brigitte took the cookie and bit into it happily, ”I haven’t been able to have homemade cookies in so long because I couldn’t afford them.” Christy smiled sadly, ”well I’m glad you could have them once more at least.” 

The atmosphere turned downcast when Brigitte stopped eating and coughed up a rose and a few petals. She kept coughing them until Christy helped her back into the wheelchair and quickly brought her inside. 

A few minutes later she was let back into Brigitte’s room where she looked worse than ever, ”I’m going to really miss you Christy, maybe in a different universe me and you could’ve been together and I could’ve had a happy ending. Will you promise me one thing though,” Christy nodded, ”anything,” Brigitte hugged Christy close as she spoke, ”please promise to bring me roses whenever you visit me okay?” Christy couldn't understand why that was her last request, ”but why would you want the thing that killed you by your grave,” she was holding back tears at what she said knowing Brigitte’s time was almost up. Brigitte looked her straight in the eyes, ”I want to be reminded how beautiful they are even if they hurt me. The best things end up hurting you but I don’t want you or anyone to hate roses because of me, they’re just as pretty and worthy of love.” Christy rested her head on Brigitte’s shoulder, ”you sound so poetic right now,” she gave a watery laugh which Brigitte quietly responded to, ”will you write me a poem then?” 

Christy didn’t say anything but Brigitte knew she would do it for her. She gave Christy one last tight squeeze, ”I’m glad I didn’t leave before I could say goodbye to you,” she felt Christy cry on her shoulder, she could tell by the way her shoulders shook. She knew that whenever she laughed too hard or cried too hard her shoulders shook, it was one of the things she loved about her. 

”Never forget that night we danced in the rain,” Christy croaked an answer as best as she could while crying, ”I won’t.” Brigitte coughed up more flowers and petals before Christy laid her down, ”be glad we were able to have those times together instead of being sad that we won’t be able to have them anymore, okay?” Christy nodded again and watched as Brigitte closed her eyes. ”It’ll be okay Christy,” she got up and hit the button for a nurse while Brigitte flat-lined but she knew it was already over. She left the room as nurses rushed in unaware they were already too late.

As she walked to her car she looked at the small heart on the inside of her wrist, she smiled and tears framed her face as she used her finger to trace over the symbol of something Brigitte would never get to see again.

Rain drenched her all the way to her car.


	10. Epilogue

“I’m leaving now,” the man shouted from the front of the store, ”alright see you tomorrow.” She walked along the sidewalk, snow falling on her while she walked. She made her way to the local flower shop and strolled inside, ”how are you Mr.Laurens,” the older man with a gray beard gave her a large smile when he heard her. ”Will it be the usual Christy?” She nodded and pulled out her wallet to pay for the vibrant red bouquet of roses. She smelled them while she walked back to her car parked by the local cafe. 

She locked it and put her empty hand in her pocket while walking to the small tombstone. ”Hey Brigitte,” she said squatting down in front of it, ”how are you today?” She smiled at it, ”I hope you’re doing good, I know I am. I have some things to update you on since my last visit a while ago.” she wiped away the tears from her eyes, ”I finally published that poem you asked me to write and people love it, they said it was beautiful. I hope it did you justice,” she laid the flowers down in front of the tombstone, ”I’ve been working at our cafe for a while and I got promoted to a manager, isn’t that awesome? My relationship with my family still isn’t the best but we’re working on it,” she looked up at the falling snowflakes, ”I think about what you said a lot, and I’m also glad that we got to experience all those things together instead of never meeting. I think there’s a universe out there where we end up together and you have a happy ending too,” she stood up and brushed her pants off, ”well that’s all for now Brigitte, I love you and I hope you’re happy wherever you are.” She gave one last gaze of love and a tender smile before getting back in her car.

That day she swore the sun shined through the clouds just a little bit brighter


End file.
